


































































THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF ALI 


IBoofcs t>8 

MAUD LINDSAY 


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THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF ALI 

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By MAUD LINDSAY and 
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He made it with a sharp STONE--Pa#e 98 . 
















THE AMAZING ADVENTURES 

OF ALI 


BY 


MAUD LINDSAY 

) i 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

W. M. BERGER 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 









Copyright, 1931, 

By LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO, 


All rights reserved 


THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF ALI 


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PRINTED IN U.6.A. 


NOV -y 1331 

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TO MY NEPHEW 


JOSEPH H. NATHAN, Jr., 

because, like an old Scottish kinsman, 
(( all his delight is in a book” 















INTRODUCTION 


An old Eastern tale tells of a magic carpet, 
on which the owner might ride at will over land 
and sea. And it is upon such a carpet, woven 
of many-colored threads gathered here and 
there from the wealth of great travelers that I 
have visited the desert; or so it seems to me. 

Wellsted, Burton, Palgrave, Doughty, Has- 
sanein Bey, and others have given information 
and inspiration for my little romance. 

They have not all agreed in their accounts 
of desert travel. Before one rose “an ocean 
of mirage,” while another scarcely mentions this 
phenomenon. One dislikes and belittles the 
camel; to another, he appears the noblest and 
wisest of animals. One hears in the shifting 
sand the beat of drums, another describes the 
sound as the aftertone of a great bell. 

But my selection of material and interpreta¬ 
tion of experiences have been largely governed 
by my hero, a child in years, but one of courage 
and imagination. For his character I found 

7 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


prototypes in two boys: a lad of whose ability 
Wellsted writes briefly but vividly, and a high- 
minded child to whom Doughty devotes a para¬ 
graph. And for the advice which his mother 
gave him, I followed the counsel of a Moham¬ 
medan lady to her son. 

Among every people there are some whose 
noble traits make them lovable, and though not 
all sheiks are like Ali the Great, I have read of 
more than one who might well serve as a model 
for him. 

Another thing, and this is for lovers of ro¬ 
mance and adventure. Only a few years ago 
there was (and may still be) a cave in the Ara¬ 
bian desert where the wealth of a certain tribe 
was stored, and which was known to none be¬ 
sides the tribesmen. 

The Amazing Adventures of Ali is not a 
handbook of the desert, but to all who are not 
afraid to trust themselves to Hassan the camel, 
I extend an invitation to ride with Ali and me 
into its vast mysteries. 

Maud Lindsay 

Sheffield, A labama 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


He made it with a sharp stone (Page 98 ) 

Frontispiece 

Facing Page 

“I will have this one and no other” . 20 

'‘Back your camel and make way” . 28 

“He shall have the Cashmere shawl that 
his father gave me” .... 42 

He was still at the gate when the start 
was made ...... 52 

She soon returned with a bowl of butter¬ 
milk ....... 64 

Merchants and men alike were quick to de¬ 
fend the camels and the merchandise 76 

“Now, oh, Hassan, we are friends” . 86 

In this strange storehouse, nothing was in 
order ....... 110 

Two horsemen came riding slowly toward 
him ....... 120 

Presently their voices reached his ears . 142 

“I must go to my grandfather” . . 154 


9 





































THE AMAZING ADVENTURES 

OF ALI 

CHAPTER I 

Ali sat with his back against a sun-baked 
wall in the market place of the old Eastern city 
that was his home, and thought of many things. 
First, of his father, who had been a soldier, and 
of the tom-tom-tom of the drums on the day 
when he had marched away to war. Ali and 
Marah the nurse, with the baby in her arms, had 
gone to watch him pass, looking as fine as the 
Pasha in his gay new uniform. 

Ai — i! That marching away had been the 
cause of all that followed — the end of sweet¬ 
meats in the house and the beginning of tears, 
for though other soldiers had come back with 
great tales to tell, Ali’s father had not been 
among these. 

Ali was now the head of the family and the 
protector of his mother and the baby, who was 
a girl, and of Marah, too, if only she would not 

forget this and try to take care of him instead. 

11 


12 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


“ You are so young, so young,” his mother 
had said on the day when the news of his father’s 
death had reached them; but Ali had felt very 
old and brave. 

“ Do you not remember that in the new year 
I shall be older? ” he had reminded his mother, 
but even to be ten in years instead of nine had 
seemed young to her. 

On that same day he had heard for the first 
time of a desert sheik, Ali the Great, who was 
ruler over many tribes, and owner of horses and 
camels and flocks without number. He, it ap¬ 
peared, was Ali’s grandfather. 

“ Why, then, does he not come to us? ” the 
boy had asked in wonder. But the great sheik, 
whose only child was the mother of Ali, was 
angry with his daughter because she had chosen 
to live with her husband in the walls of a city 
rather than in the tents of her tribe. He had 
never even heard of his namesake, or of the 
baby. 

“ Yet if he could but know you, he would for¬ 
give all,” Ali’s mother had told him then, and at 
many other times. 

“ If he will not come to us, may we not go to 
him? ” he had asked, but this was an undertak- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


13 


ing beyond thought; or so his mother and Marah 
had said at first. Afterwards, when their store 
of money grew less and the color began to fade 
from the mother’s cheeks and eyes, it was dis¬ 
cussed freely; not, it is true, that all should go, 
but that Ali might. 

“ Will you ride, oh, treasure of my heart, to 
find my father and win forgiveness for me? ” 
his mother had asked, and Ali had answered 
that he would. 

As he sat in the market place he thought of 
this, and of how his mother and Marah had 
laughed and cried at his promise, and how the 
nurse, who was full of proverbs, had said: “ To 
a man who has no sons, a grandson is as wel¬ 
come as water to the thirsty.” 

How Ali should go to his grandfather was 
another matter. The season for caravans 
across the desert was near, but who among them 
would undertake the care of a child on such a 
journey? 

“ If he had a camel of his own, it would be 
less to ask,” Marah had said, and it was to buy 
a camel that Ali had come to the market this 
morning. An older head than his was needed 
for such a business, but there was no help for it. 


14 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


Marah, who might have come with him, was 
lame with rheumatism, and that his mother 
should go to the market and bargain with 
strangers was forbidden by custom. If a 
camel were bought, Ali must be the purchaser. 
Doubtless he would be mocked and cheated, or 
even repulsed, so his mother and the nurse had 
said; for there was no money to offer, only a 
bracelet of gold to leave in pledge till it could 
be redeemed by the grandfather. Even should 
he refuse to forgive his daughter, the sheik 
would pay for the camel. There was no doubt 
in the mind of either Ali’s mother or Marah 
about this. 

Ali had the bracelet hidden in the little tur¬ 
ban that he wore, and every now and then he 
put his hand up to assure himself that it was 
safe. As for the rest, he had no misgivings, 
for though he was not yet ten years old, he was 
ready for adventures. And what greater ad¬ 
venture than to buy a camel? 

He had come so early to the market that not 
even the merchants had been there before him, 
but now the booths began to open, and cus¬ 
tomers to come. As Ali walked through the 
bazaar he looked at everything. In one booth 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


IS 


were sold red and yellow dates which would 
taste, so the seller declared, like the honey of 
home to a wayfarer’s lips. In the opposite stall 
was a vendor of water skins, which are called 
girbies in the East. Some merchants sold 
bread fresh from the ovens of the city, and 
others salt, which is prized above all other things 
by the Arabs. Then, too, there were many 
sellers of linens and silken stuffs, and in one 
stall Ali spied a little old shoemaker stitching 
away on a yellow sandal. 

The camel-brokers, who stood by their kneel¬ 
ing beasts on the outskirts of the market, were 
the last to be reached. They were a noisy 
crowd, bickering and laughing among them¬ 
selves, and before Ali could attract attention 
he was forced to catch the sleeve of the man 
who stood nearest him and pull it more than 
once. 

“ Be off, oh, little beggar,” cried the man, but 
when he observed Ali’s businesslike air he smiled 
broadly, and another broker laughed and said, 
“ Take care, oh, Hamood, lest you offend a 
customer.” 

The boy would have told his errand to them 
at once had it not been that a sweetmeat-seller, 


16 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


who wandered about with a tray of dainties, in¬ 
terrupted him by calling: 

“ Here are wares for your tooth, oh, moon¬ 
faced one.” 

Ali, who thought that such a name was bet¬ 
ter suited for little ones like the sister at home, 
flung back his answer: 

“ Keep your sweetmeats for children. I 
come to buy a camel.” 

At the moment there was a lull in the busi¬ 
ness of the market, and Ali’s words brought a 
throng of idlers to join in the laughter that 
greeted them. A child come to buy a camel! 
What better jest could there be? One inquisi¬ 
tive fellow must ask where Ali’s caravan 
waited; and if it were to Mecca or Aleppo that 
he went, and another begged: 

“ Buy not a camel, oh, little prince, but an 
el-fil; ” by which he meant an elephant, though 
there was none in the land. 

The boy’s heart swelled almost to bursting 
at all this teasing but he stood his ground. 

“ I am Ali, the grandson of Ali the Great, 
whose daughter is my mother,” he cried. 
“ Show me your camels that I may buy and go.” 

The brokers, who till now had seen nothing 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 17 

but child’s play in the matter pricked up their 
ears at the mention of the great sheik’s name. 

“ Granted, oh, little Ali, that your mother is 
the daughter of the sheik of whom we all have 
heard, where have you the money to pay for a 
camel? ” 

Now, thought Ali, the time to show the brace¬ 
let has come; and taking it from his turban he 
held it up. 

“ Here is my surety,” he told the brokers, 
“ till my grandfather, who has more gold pieces 
than there are stars in the sky, shall send to re¬ 
deem it at the camel’s worth and more.” 

All of this was what his mother had bidden 
him say, except for the wealth of the sheik; that 
he had gotten from the nurse. His earnestness 
as well as the bracelet convinced the merchants, 
and they crowded around him as eager to bar¬ 
gain with him as they had been to play. Ali 
was begged to look at the legs of this animal 
and the height of that one, and every man tried 
to persuade him that the camel he offered was 
the best. 

“ Here is a thelul that your grandfather him¬ 
self would choose if he were here,” said a broker 
pushing Ali toward a beast of doubtful merit. 


18 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


“ Would you rob a child? ” shouted his neigh¬ 
bor. “ But never mind him, child. His is but 
a worthless naga, but I will give you a fat camel. 
Every one knows my camel. I will bring wit¬ 
nesses to prove that he is a good one.” 

“ Except that he is lame of a foot and blind 
of an eye,” said the next man, “ but mine, oh, 
little grandson of the great, is a young camel 
and has no blemish.” 

Ali had little knowledge to guide him in all 
this bibble-babble, but before he left home he 
had heard his mother say in her anxiety to 
Marah: 

“ When he comes to the market, I pray 
heaven no toothless camels will be there; ” so 
he called: 

“ I will buy no camel till I have seen its teeth.” 

His only thought was to please his mother, 
but the brokers saw great wisdom in his words; 
for it is by their teeth that the age and worth of 
camels are largely determined. 

“ Choose for yourself, oh, little wise one,” 
cried a merchant, and after this there was no 
chaffering but only wonder as Ali passed along 
the line of kneeling beasts. 

Some of them were old and some were young, 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 19 

and their colors varied, brown, grey, black, 
white; but, even when the owners good- 
naturedly showed the teeth of their camels, Ali 
found it hard to make a choice. He had almost 
reached the end of the line when a great white 
beast thrust its nose into his hand. Here now 
was a friend among strangers, or so Ali 
thought, and his indecision vanished. 

“ I will have this one and no other,” he cried, 
looking about for the owner, who proved to be 
the very Hamood to whom he had first spoken. 
This honest man, it appeared, was willing 
enough to make the bargain, but not until he 
had told the merits of his beast. 

“ Teeth he has as you require, and strength 
and wisdom, and a name like a prince, for this 
your camel, oh, little Ali,” he said, “ is Hassan, 
who, God willing, shall be a friend to you 
whithersoever you may journey.” 


1 


CHAPTER II 

The streets of the city where Ali lived were 
narrow and crooked. In some parts of them 
two horsemen could scarcely pass each other, 
and all were uneven and rough. 

Through these streets Ali must lead his camel 
home, but as Hamood the broker, partly from 
good nature and partly from curiosity to see 
the family of the boy, offered to go with him, 
he felt no anxiety as he started out. 

It happened, however, that on this very 
morning an Emir had come to visit the Pasha, 
who was the governor of the city, and as Ali 
and his companions entered the street from the 
bazaar they found themselves in the midst of 
the great man’s procession. 

A more gorgeous spectacle could scarcely be 
imagined. First came the standard-bearers 
with banners of white with deep green borders. 
Then on a chestnut horse with a flowing mane, 
rode the Emir, who was dressed in clothes of 


20 



“I WILL HAVE THIS ONE AND NO OTHER. ’ '-Page 19. 














ADVENTURES OF ALI 21 

the richest coloring, with a gold-embroidered 
mantle blowing back from his shoulders, and 
the brightest of satin turbans on his head. Be¬ 
hind him came his principal officers in crimson 
uniforms, with spears in their hands, swords by 
their sides, and daggers in their girdles. And 
after them other soldiers rode on camels and 
dromedaries with gay scarlet fringes hanging 
from their saddles. 

There was neither room to turn nor space to 
cross in the street, and, almost before they real¬ 
ized it, Ali and Hamood with the camel were 
caught in the moving line and forced to march 
with it as though they were a part of all the 
pageantry. And it was not long before they 
attracted the attention of the crowd of spec¬ 
tators who had come to see the Emir’s splendor. 

“ Look you, there goes a child leading a great 
white camel,” called one of them. 

“ The beast is doubtless a gift for the Pasha, 
and the child the Emir’s son,” said some one 
else. 

“ Nay, his dress is not rich enough for that,” 
said a third. “ It is likelier that the man beside 
him is his father, and they and the camel have 
been taken captive by the Emir. Was there 


22 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

not talk in the bazaar to-day of Bedouin rob¬ 
bers? ” 

All this made a stir and noise in the crowd, 
and presently an officer of the Pasha’s house¬ 
hold, who had ridden to meet the Emir, rode up 
to inquire the cause. When the three in the 
procession were pointed out to him he was in¬ 
clined to be angry with them, but finding it was 
no fault of theirs that they were in such com¬ 
pany, he made way for them to turn aside at the 
next street to which they came. 

This was a quiet street between the high blank 
walls of houses built around courtyards and with 
no windows opening on public ways, in Eastern 
fashion. Hamood and Ali, who were glad 
enough to be rid of the noise and press in which 
they had been, were hurrying the camel along 
when they came upon an unlucky porter who 
had spilled the contents of the crate he carried. 
Dates, melons, pomegranates, lemons, citron, 
cucumbers, rice, and beans were lying in the dust 
on every side while the unfortunate man, who 
was a big helpless fellow, stood in the midst of 
them bemoaning the mishap. 

When he saw the boy and the broker ap¬ 
proaching with Hassan, he called out hastily to 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 23 


beg them not to let the camel step upon the 
food, for, as he was quick to tell them, he was 
a poor man who could ill afford to pay his em¬ 
ployers for the loss. 

Ali and Hamood were far too good-natured 
to add to his troubles, and while the broker 
kept the camel back the child ran to assist in 
picking up the fruit and vegetables. Soon 
everything but a little rice and a handful of 
beans was restored to the crate, and the porter 
was loud in his gratitude. 

“ Praise be to God,” he said, “ that it was 
you who came and not the gutter-boys, who, like 
the locust, would have devoured all, and mocked 
me as they mocked my brother when a mis¬ 
fortune greater than my own befell him.” 

Ali could not keep from asking what this 
misfortune was, and the porter, who was more 
than eager to tell the tale, lost no time in be¬ 
ginning it. 

“ Know, oh, child,” he said “ that my brother 
is a man of taste, and having made a little 
money he purchased from a tailor a coat of ex¬ 
cellent material in two colors. This he wore 
to the market place where, standing on a cor¬ 
ner, he soon attracted the attention of a man 


24 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


of good appearance, who offered him employ¬ 
ment. 

“ 4 Here,’ thought my brother, 4 is a house¬ 
holder of wealth who will spend freely, and 
when I have conveyed what he has bought to 
his house, he will pay according to his means. 
And with this fee I shall buy in the bazaar a 
pair of crimson slippers, for to wear old shoes 
with a fine coat is unbecoming to any man ; 5 
so he accepted the offer joyfully. 

44 Imagine then his disappointment when, en¬ 
tering a stall, the householder bought only a 
skin of sour milk. 

44 Laying this across his shoulder my brother 
hurried away determined to have done with 
such a task as quickly as could be. But no 
sooner had he passed into the streets than the 
ravenous dogs, of which the city is full, came to 
leap upon him, lapping and biting at his coat 
till it was well-nigh torn from his back. And 
to make the matter worse, the gutter-boys, for¬ 
saking their play, began to follow him with 
mocking words. 

4 4 4 Alas! ’ cried my poor brother , 4 What have 
I done to merit such ill treatment? ’ But the 
worst was not yet known to him. When at last, 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


25 


though more dead than alive, he reached the 
house of his employer and lifted down the milk 
bag he found that it was empty! For the neck 
of the skin having come untied, the milk had 
leaked away upon his coat. 

“ But though this misfortune was great it 
was not so grievous as what befell my uncle,” 
said the porter. 

This tale, however, was left untold, for, much 
as they would have liked to hear it, Ali and 
Hamood could stay no longer, and bidding the 
porter good-bye they hastened on. 

As they went, Hamood, who was as full of 
talk as the porter had been, told Ali of his own 
journeys into the desert, where he had gone to 
purchase camels for the market; for it is from 
the great Bedouin sheiks, like Ali’s grandfather, 
that these are bought. 

On one of his journeys he had come upon a 
camel left for dead by a caravan. Its neck was 
already stretched on the sand and its eyes 
glazed, but Hamood, who was skilled with 
beasts, had poured water on its tongue and 
rubbed a great vein in its head, and finally had 
gotten it to its feet again. 

“ And where think you, oh, little Ali, is that 


26 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


camel now? ” he asked, breaking off his story 
and looking at the child. 

Ali was all excitement at the question. 

“ Hamood, oh, Hamood,” he cried, “ Was 
it Hassan that you found? ” 

“ Aye,” said Hamood, his voice full of hon¬ 
est pride, “ and as good a camel as any ever 
bought or sold.” 

Who the owners might have been, he could 
not tell, though inquiry had been made. 

“ ’Tis likely they were Persian Pilgrims, such 
as ride to Mecca and haste home again,” said 
Hamood; but whether this were true or not, he 
had kept the beast unsold, and in the market 
where all could see him for many a day. 

By this time they had come to an alley not 
far from the boy’s home, and were already well 
into it when they spied before them a small grey 
donkey loaded with huge panniers filled with 
earthenware; jars, pots, and pipkins. 

The driver was a wizened, crabbed man who 
had no thought of yielding ground to them. 

“ Oh, heedless one! ” he called to Hamood, 
“ Have a care how you come.” 

“ Have a care yourself how your donkey 
oversteps her space,” said the broker, who was 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 27 

ruffled at his tone. “ Would you push us to 
the wall? ” 

“ Back your camel and make way,” retorted 
the driver, “ lest I break my pots against his 
bones.” 

“ Talk you of bones, oh, you who overburden 
donkeys,” cried the broker, indignation bris¬ 
tling in his words. “ Unload your wares and 
the passing will be easy.” But this the driver 
would not do. 

“ The camel has no burden,” he shouted, 
“ and to unload wares is far more easily said 
than done.” 

“ Aye,” the broker answered, “ but what do 
you, who are a driver of small beasts, know of 
a camel? Back him, say you? But what if he 
bruise a shin or break a leg? Who then will 
recompense the child who is his owner? An¬ 
swer me that, oh, seller of pots and pipkins? ” 
But by now the driver had a new line of con¬ 
tention ; 

“ The right of way is mine,” he cried. “ Was 
I not here before you came, as is easily proven? 
Look you and see the Cadi’s house, which stands 
midway between this alley-end and that; which 
one is nearer to it, my donkey or yourself? ” 


28 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

“ Myself,” said the broker, and the dispute 
might have gone on without end if the Cadi 
had not heard the noise and come from his house 
to ask the trouble. He was a judge noted for 
his justice, and when he had listened to both 
sides, he determined the matter in this way: 

“ Back the camel to yonder doorway, and 
make him kneel,” he told the broker; and to the 
driver he said: 

“ Unload the one-half of your wares, and 
keep the empty pannier to the wall.” 

When this advice was followed the passing 
was accomplished without the breaking of a 
single pipkin, and the driver and the broker 
parted on the best of terms. Nevertheless 
Hamood thought that the victory had been his. 

“ The Cadi is a wise man,” he said, “ still, oh, 
little Ali, it is well that I was here to speak for 
you, else the dealer in small wares had worsted 
you.” 

When they reached the end of the alley, Ali’s 
home was in sight, but here a fresh anxiety pre¬ 
sented itself. The door or gateway of the court¬ 
yard, on which the house opened, was broken 
away from age and lack of mending, but Ali 
was not sure that Hassan could pass through 



‘‘Back your camel and make way.” -Page 27. 


















































































ADVENTURES OF ALI 29 


it. Ai — i! if he should have to lie in the street 
to be stumbled on, and abused by passers! 

Fortunately this question was soon settled; 
the camel entered the gap as if it had been made 
for him, and then Ali shouted joyfully: 

“ Come, oh, my mother! Come, Marah, 
with the child! Hassan that has all his proper 
teeth is at the door.” 


CHAPTER III 


Ali’s mother and the nurse had nothing but 
praise for Hassan. First one and then the 
other found something to exclaim about; his 
size, his shape, the breadth of his feet, his slen¬ 
der neck, all of which showed that he was no 
ordinary camel, but among the best of his kind. 

44 There were black camels in the market; 
would you, oh, my mother, have bought one of 
those? ” asked Ali; but a white camel was to 
be desired above all others, so his mother 
thought. 

44 My father had one in his herd, and the 
camel had a foal as white as herself,” she told 
him; and pleased with the memory she called 
to the nurse, 44 Do you not remember, oh, 
Marah, the white foal of my father? ” 

44 Aye,” said Marah, 44 and the day that it 
was stolen away with twenty other camels and 
the chestnut mare.” 

44 But my father rode to overtake the rob- 

30 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 31 

bers. Every camel was brought back, and the 
mare as well. Only the little foal was lost. 
Ai — i! How I wept that day,” said the 
mother. 

Her eyes were bright with tears now, as she 
looked at Hassan and thought of what his com¬ 
ing meant, but she wiped them away before Ali 
could see them, and hastened to turn the praise 
to him. 

“ Was it not well done, oh, Marah, to go to 
the market and buy a camel, and such a camel! ” 

“ Aye,” said Marah, “ but the child is half a 
Bedouin. Did I not say that you could trust 
him?” 

“ He has a head beyond his years,” put in 
Hamood who had stood by listening. “ Never- 
theless, it is well that he found an honest man 
to deal with him.” 

“ True,” said the mother, “ and, God willing, 
you shall have reward.” Hamood was ready 
enough to hope for this. 

“ God requites the kind of heart, and so, 
doubtless, will Ali the Great,” he answered 
gravely. 

Everything that he saw and heard in the little 
courtyard convinced him that he had made no 


32 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


mistake in befriending Ali, and even when his 
farewells were said and lie was out of the gate, 
he turned back to assure the mother that he 
would watch for travelers. 

“ The market is the place for news,” he said; 
“ and never goes a caravan that I am not the 
first to hear of it.” 

After he had gone, nothing was talked of in 
Ali’s home but plans for his journey. Marah 
thought only of what he must take with him, 
and how these things might be gotten in readi¬ 
ness quickly. 

“ He may wait for a caravan, but a caravan 
will never wait for him,” she said. But his 
mother’s anxiety was all for his safety on the 
way. 

“You shall not go into the desert except with 
trusty men,” she told him; but Ali felt very 
sure that he could find them. 

“ Did I not find Hassan? ” he asked. 

“ Aye, treasure of my heart,” she answered, 
“ but to judge a camel is easier than to judge a 
man.” 

Nevertheless when morning came she let him 
go again to the market where, as on the day 
before, he sat with his back against the wall. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 33 


But now his thoughts were only of the passers, 
among whom he hoped to find protectors. 

All the usual crowd of the market was there; 
men who were plainly citizens and householders 
of the city, a few women with their faces veiled, 
as the custom of the country was, and servants 
hurrying to and fro on errands. But besides 
these, there were many about whom the boy 
could guess nothing. 

Then came two men with olive skins and 
bright dark eyes, and voices that seemed soft 
and liquid in comparison to the shrill cries of 
the market. These men were dressed like the 
rest, in Eastern costume, but by many little 
signs Ali knew that they were strangers. 
When they stopped at the booths, a servant, 
who followed them, asked the prices of things 
and did the buying. They looked about them 
as if what they saw were unfamiliar to them, 
and once, when something pleased them, they 
called out a word or two in a language that the 
boy had never heard before. 

Of all who had passed, Ali liked them best. 
They walked so fearlessly through the crowd, 
and their faces were so gay and pleasant. 
Once, too, they stopped to lift a child, who had 


34 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


stumbled and fallen, and Ali saw that they gave 
him sweetmeats. 

“ If they were travelers, I could go with 
these,” thought Ali, and he had it in his mind 
to run for Hamood, who would know, if any¬ 
body did, what the business of the strangers 
was. But before lie could get to his feet, he 
heard a date-seller, from whom the men had 
bought fruit, say to another: 

“ There go merchants in favor with the 
Caliph, who are bound across the desert with 
their merchandise.” 

“ Will they travel in caravan? ” shouted Ali, 
almost overturning a basket of fruit as he 
sprang up, and forgetting the salutation that 
should have gone before his question. The 
date-seller was not slow in telling him his faults: 

“ Oh, despoiler of goods,” he cried, “ have 
you no eyes to guide your feet that you must 
bruise the dates fit for the Pasha’s table — did 
he not send but yesterday to buy from me? 
In caravan, say you? How else, oh, discourte¬ 
ous child, would merchants travel? ” 

Ali only waited to hear so much before he 
hurried away in pursuit of the strangers, who, 
fortunately for him, had stopped at a stall not 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 35 

far ahead. When he came up with them they 
were busy examining a camel-saddle, but at his 
greeting, “ Peace be on you, and the blessing of 
God ” they turned around with smiling faces. 

“ May your blessing return to you with added 
blessing,” said the elder merchant in slow and 
careful Arabic, and the younger man, taking a 
coin from a purse that hung by his side would 
have given it to the boy had he not cried out 
quickly: 

“ I am no beggar, but the grandson of Ali 
the Great, sheik of the desert, to whom I must 
go. Let me, I pray you, travel in your com¬ 
pany and your reward shall be that of the merci¬ 
ful. And fear not that I will trouble you, or 
require aught from you, for know this, oh, mer¬ 
chants, I am possessed of a camel, whose name 
is Hassan.” 

When the servant had helped them to under¬ 
stand all that Ali said, the merchants looked at 
him more seriously, and began to consult, first 
with each other and then with the servant whom 
they called Mohammed. They knew nothing 
of Ali the Great, but to have the grandson of 
any sheik in their company on the long desert 
journey might be of great advantage. 


36 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

“ If his tale be true-” said Mohammed, 

and turning to the boy he asked, “ Whom have 
you to prove your words, oh, boasting one? ” 

“ My mother and Marah the nurse, and yon¬ 
der camel-seller,” said Ali so quickly and earn¬ 
estly that it would have been hard not to be¬ 
lieve him. 

Still the merchants took precautions. First, 
as he was nearest, Hamood was consulted, much 
to the delight and pride of that good man. 
Who better than Hamood, seller of the best 
camels in the market, knew that the child was 
truth itself; and as for the camel-broker’s own 
reputation, the merchants might inquire of 
Obeyd the tailor, and Bedr the barber, and Suli- 
man the vendor of sweetmeats, aye, and many 
another besides. 

With this assurance, the merchants and their 
servant followed Ali to the home in the court¬ 
yard to hear the whole story from his mother, 
who for his sake put aside custom and talked 
with the strangers herself. 

When she had finished, it was the merchants’ 
turn to talk, and now Ali heard of a city built 
on islets in the sea, with streets of shining water 
where men went to and fro in boats. 



ADVENTURES OF ALI 37 


“ How then do the camels go? ” he asked in 
wonder, but there were no camels in the city of 
the sea, no, nor horses except for four carven 
in bronze that stood above the doorway of a 
church. 

“ Are they then so poor in this city of yours,” 
said Ali pityingly. But the city of the mer¬ 
chants, it appeared, was rich and beautiful. 
Its artisans, blowers of glass, weavers of dam¬ 
asks and velvet and workers in silver and gold 
were the most skillful in the world. Its ships 
carried trade to all nations, and its merchants 
traveled far and wide to sell their goods and 
learn new arts. Of these last were the visitors, 
men of honesty and renown, who, unlike most 
who ventured in the desert, were traveling with¬ 
out disguise. 

“ He who hides nothing fears no detection, 
and besides have we not the permission and 
safeguard of the Caliph himself,” said Moham¬ 
med the servant, who had stood close by to aid 
in all the conversation, and taking out a letter 
he read it proudly: 

“ To the Faithful who dwell in the sands of 
the desert, on whom be peace and the blessing 
of God. 


38 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

“ Know ye that the bearers of this are the 
merchant Yusuf and the merchant Kalil of the 
city called Venice in the land of Italy, traveling 
with their merchandise under the protection of 
God and of His servant, the Caliph Seyed. 

“ Look to it that no evil befall these men, for 
their lives shall be required of you.” 

Ali’s mother listened earnestly to all these 
things, but in the end it was a question that the 
boy asked, and the answers to it that set her 
mind at ease. 

“ Have you, oh, my merchants, no sons at 
home who watch and wait for you ? ” This was 
Ali’s question, and at his words the mother saw 
the faces of the strangers change and soften. 

“ Aye, oh, little Ali,” said the younger man, 
whose name was written Kalil in the letter of 
the Caliph, “In a palace whose windows 
overlook the sea there are two boys but little 
older than yourself; and when I go again to 
them, what shall I tell them, think you? ” 

“ Of the Caliph, and the desert,” said Ali, 
“ and of the merchandise that you have sold.” 

“ True,” said Kalil, whose eyes were full of 
laughter; “ But first of you and Hassan, for 
that will please them most.” 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


39 


The merchant Yusuf, like Ali the Great, had 
no sons, and but one daughter, whom he loved 
as much as Ali’s mother loved the little one in 
Mar ah’s arms. 

“ Every morning she asks, ‘ Will my father 
come to-day,’ and every night my name is in 
her prayers,” said the good merchant, “ and 
she, too, will like to hear of Ali and his camel.” 

After this the mother had no more doubts. 
“ If you will take the child, I will let him go,” 
she told the merchants; and to Ali it seemed as if 
a new adventure were beginning that very mo¬ 
ment. 


CHAPTER IV 


In the preparations for Ali’s journey, the 
merchants proved friends indeed. It was un¬ 
der their guidance, or the supervision of Mo¬ 
hammed, that all provisions for his comfort and 
safety were made. 

The first of these was furniture for the 
camel’s back, which, because of Ali’s youth and 
inexperience in riding, was a litter consisting 
of two box-like seats hung on a cradle frame. 
In one of these the child could sit, and in the 
other, to balance his weight, his baggage could 
be stored, while over all was stretched an awn¬ 
ing of gay-colored cloth to protect his head 
from the sun. This litter was not bought, but 
rented by the shrewd Mohammed, who engaged 
to return it to the owner at his next coming. 

It cannot be said that Ali was pleased with 
the litter. He would have preferred a camel- 
saddle with trappings and tassels such as the 
merchants rode, but in this matter he was over¬ 
ruled. 


40 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


41 


“ When you have come to your grandfather 
safely, it will be time enough to talk of saddles,” 
said his mother; and with this half-promise Ali 
was forced to content himself. 

Next a girby must be bought, and here as in 
other things choice must be made. Nothing 
but one fashioned of goatskin would do for 
such a journey, though sheepskins were offered 
in the market. The largest girbies held six 
gallons of water, but a small one, like those 
which horsemen carry at their saddles, was se¬ 
lected for Ali. 

Food, too, must be provided for both the boy 
and his camel. Ali’s mother would not have 
him beholden to the merchants for this or any¬ 
thing. 

“ You must go like the grandson of my 
father,” she said, and, though money was scarce 
and grew scarcer at every turn, stores of dates 
were bought and caravan biscuit, and even a 
little package of sweetmeats, raisins, and honey- 
cakes, for the child’s pleasure. 

Then the shoemaker must be visited, the very 
one whom Ali had noticed on his first day at 
the market. He chose yellow for the color of 
his sandals, and the shoemaker who was a man 


42 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


of odd fancies, promised to stitch a blessing in 
the soles. 

While Ali went to the bazaar with Moham¬ 
med, his mother and Marah busied themselves 
with washing and mending his clothes and hunt¬ 
ing out their bits of finery to deck him with. 
Every day when he came home there was some¬ 
thing to be displayed or changed. Once it was 
Marah who called out: 

“ He must not wear a turban like a Turk,” 
which sent his mother searching in her stores 
for a bright-colored kerchief for his head, and 
when she had tried it on him she said: 

“ Look, oh, Marah! Is he not a little Be¬ 
douin? ” 

What he should wear to keep himself warm 
in the long cold nights that follow the hot days 
in the desert was the next problem, but this was 
easily settled. 

“ He shall have the Cashmere shawl that his 
father gave me,” said the mother, and though a 
boy in another land might have objected to this, 
Ali felt only delight and pride in the gift. Did 
not the Pasha and all the other great men of the 
city wrap themselves in shawls? 

The shawl of his mother was large enough to 



“He shall have the Cashmere shawl that his father 

GAVE me .’’-Page 42- 


























ADVENTURES OF ALI 


43 


go around him twice. When he was well in it 
he looked more like a bundle than a boy, but this, 
too, was considered an advantage. 

“ He will be as snug as a thob in a burrow,” 
said Marah, though what a thob might be she 
did not stop to tell. 

Another time it was a scarlet fringe for his 
girdle that occupied the household; but it was 
not always clothes and food of which they 
thought and talked. There were many in¬ 
structions to be given and messages to be 
learned. At the day’s end, when they sat by 
Hassan in the courtyard, Ali’s mother was full 
of these. 

“ You must not be afraid of my father,” she 
told him. “ Fear will not win his heart, nor 
would he believe you a true son of the tribe if 
you should fear.” 

“But why should I fear? ” asked Ali, who 
scarcely knew the meaning of the word. 

“ There is no reason, oh, treasure of my 
heart,” said his mother; “ it is only because I 
love you and want you to prosper that I warn 
you.” 

Sometimes it was of Ali himself that she 
talked. 


44 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


“ You must be brave and kind and truthful,” 
she said, and to be sure that he heeded, she 
asked: “ What must you be, oh, little Ali? ” 

“ Brave and kind and truthful, oh, my 
mother,” he repeated, though it was hard to keep 
his mind on anything but the camel and the 
caravan. 

“ And honest,” she hastened to add. “ Is it 
not told that a man going a day’s journey in the 
desert may leave his coat on a bush, and coming 
again will find it where he left it though a hun¬ 
dred Bedouins had passed? You will not be 
less honest than my people will you, oh, my 
son? ” 

“ If I see a coat, I will not take it,” said Ali, 
who could not keep from wondering why a man 
should leave his property so far behind him. 

“ It is not of coats only, but of all things that 
your mother speaks, oh, foolish one,” cried 
Marah, but the mother said; 

“ If there is need, he will remember and un¬ 
derstand.” 

A message for his grandfather was the next 
lesson. 

“ When you come to the tents of my father,” 
said the mother, “ you must greet him so: 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 45 

“ O Ali the Great, whom God prosper and 
preserve, I am little Ali, son of your Star of the 
Desert, whose husband is dead. Send, I pray 
you, and bring her, and the little one who is a 
flower of the city, and Marah the nurse, who 
is old, from the walls where they perish, that 
they may dwell with you in the tents that they 
love.” 

The great sheik could never resist such a mes¬ 
sage as this; so Marah and Ali thought, but 
when the boy had learned it the mother was not 
satisfied. 

44 To say 4 1 am your grandson ’ is not enough. 
You must have a token for my father,” she said, 
and she bade the nurse look among her treasures 
for an amulet, a carnelian stone with a hole in 
it through which a scarlet cord was passed. 

44 This I had from my mother, and she from 
her mother, and so back to the days of Antar 
the hero; and let my father doubt your words 
as he will, he cannot doubt the amulet,” she said 
as she hung it upon Ali’s neck. 

44 But how shall I know my grandfather? ” 
asked Ali, who, among so many precautions to 
prove that he was himself, began to feel that he 
should have some safeguards of his own. At 


46 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


his question however, Marah and his mother 
cried out in amazement: 

“ Know Ali the Great? Why, the smallest 
child in the tribe can point him out. 

“ His bearing is like that of a prince.” 

“ His eyes are bright as stars, but fierce.” 

This last was Marah’s saying, and the mother 
made haste to add: 

“ They will not be fierce when he looks at his 
grandson.” 

“ Aye, but they are fierce,” persisted Marah; 
“ and on his right cheek, close to his eye, he has a 
mole like the mole upon your own cheek, oh, 
little Ali.” 

At the mention of the mole the mother’s eyes 
grew bright, and for the moment she was as gay 
as she had been in the days before the sorrow 
came. 

“ The mole shall be your token,” she cried, 
and she called to the nurse “ Be quick and bring 
the mirror that Ali may see the sign by which 
to know his grandfather.” 

Then, strange as it may seem, Ali looked 
at himself for the first time. What he saw was 
a young sunburnt face with eager eyes and a 
smiling mouth. He was handsome enough, as 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 47 


looks go, but of this he thought nothing. He 
was interested only in the small brown mole 
upon his cheek close to his eye, and later on he 
pointed it out to Mohammed, the merchants’ 
servant. 

“ See you this mole? ” he asked. “ Ali the 
Great, the father of my mother, has such a one.” 


CHAPTER V 

Now came the day when Ali must start upon 
his journey. Early in the morning Moham¬ 
med was at the door of the court to fasten the 
litter upon Hassair s back and to lead him to 
the gates of the city where the caravan of the 
merchants was assembling. 

Early as it was, Ali was already dressed and 
waiting. His loose white shirt or smock, which 
reached almost to his ankles, and the full calico 
trousers that he wore beneath it, were spotless. 
Around his waist was the girdle with scarlet 
fringe, and the bright-colored head-cloth was 
held in place by a band which his mother had 
plaited. The shoemaker had finished the yel¬ 
low sandals in good time, and they fitted ex¬ 
actly. Ali was prouder of these and of the cash- 
mere shawl, which he carried neatly folded on 
his arm, than of anything else. 

But, though he was dressed as for a holiday, 
the joy of his adventure was for the time for- 

48 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 49 


gotten. He could think only of parting with 
all he knew and loved. Ai — i! How could 
he leave them! 

His mother held him in her arms and whis¬ 
pered words of endearment and advice: 

“ When you come to my father, oh, treasure 
of my heart, it were better to give the token first, 
and then the message,” she told him; and again: 

“ If in the desert you are sad and perhaps a 
little lonely, remember the sweetmeats.” 

Soon, however, she bade him kiss Marah and 
the baby and mount into the litter, for to pro¬ 
long leave-taking was no cure for sorrow; and 
he must not keep the merchants waiting. After 
the child was in his place she gave him the 
blessing of the traveler, without a falter in her 
voice: 

“ God guide your steps, and bring you safely 
to your journey’s end.” 

A moment more, and the camel had stepped 
through the broken doorway and was following 
Mohammed down the street. Ali had seen the 
last of home, he thought, but presently he heard 
his name called loudly. Looking back he spied 
Marah hobbling after them with something in 
her hand. This proved to be a bamboo pipe on 


50 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


which Ali had delighted to make a noise, and it 
was the kinder of Marah to remember it and 
bring it to him, because with noise she had little 
patience. 

“ Oh, good Marah,” said Ali, “ when we are 
together in the tents of my grandfather, I will 
trouble you no more.” 

In spite of his desire to be brave, as his mother 
had bidden him, he could no longer keep the 
tears from rolling down his cheeks, and it was 
riot until he came to the starting-place that his 
interest in his journey returned. 

All was stir and bustle in the quarter in which 
the caravan made ready for the march across 
the desert. Upon the backs of the pack-camels 
were placed blankets and pads to save them 
from chafing under the burdens which later on 
were fastened upon them with straps and girths. 
These were bales of damasks and silks, boxes of 
trinkets, sacks of coffee and salt, and a medicine 
chest; all goods of the merchants. Still other 
camels were to bear bags of dates and various 
provisions, and the great girbies, which even 
then were being filled at a well; and a young 
dromedary was loaded with the poles and cloth 
for a tent. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 51 

As always, there was a crowd at the gates to 
watch the passing of a caravan, and among 
them Ali spied Hamood. The camel-broker, 
who felt that he had a tremendous part in this 
particular caravan because of Ali and Hassan, 
stood close beside the gate with his face 
wreathed in smiles. As soon as he saw the boy 
he pointed him out to a bystander: 

“See you the little princeling on the best of 
the camels? He is the grandson of Ali the 
Great, and traveling to him. This I know, 
for I sold him the beast,” he said with pride, 
and seeing that Ali had observed him, he 
called: 

“ When I go into the desert to purchase 
camels I shall find you, oh, little Ali, and, God 
willing, I shall bring you the tale of the porter’s 
uncle.” 

He was still at the gate when the start was 
made and as Ali passed he cried: 

“ God go with you.” 

“ God preserve you, oh, Hamood,” answered 
Ali, who felt very small and lonely in the midst 
of the noise and crowd of strangers. 

In the caravan that now went forth were the 
good merchants Yusuf and Kalil, who rode 


52 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


upon trotting camels that are called theluls; 
Mohammed, who interpreted for the merchants 
and managed their affairs; and Baba, the leader 
and guide of the party. There was also a fat 
man named Zeyd, who, because he had part 
ownership in the pack-camels, had come to see 
that they were well-treated, though he was not, 
as Baba said, a man for such a life. There were 
camel-drivers, too, among whom the chief was 
Ghafil, a maker of rhymes, who also knew songs 
with which to urge the camels on. And in the 
midst of the line Ali rode. 

As they went one by one through the city 
gate, Hassan swerved a little from the way, and, 
looking down, Ali saw a small heap of dates in 
the path. 

“ See,” he called to Baba who for the moment 
walked at the camel’s head, “ A porter has 
spilled his dates.” He thought it of little con¬ 
sequence, but no sooner had he spoken than 
Baba began to call: 

“ Ali has seen dates in the way. ’Tis a sign 
of a fortunate journey.” And Ghafil sang to 
the camels: 

“ The hills shall come out to meet you, 

You shall drink at the wells of sweet water.” 







He was still at the gate when the start was made 

—Page 51. 






















ADVENTURES OF ALI S3 


The way that the caravan took led at the be¬ 
ginning, through a fertile valley where melons 
and pomegranates grew, and ripening grain 
that was pleasant to see, but soon these were 
left behind. Now there were only straggling 
bushes and trees growing in a gravelly soil, and 
by late afternoon they came to the edge of the 
desert and halted there. 

Some among the company who looked for 
the first time on the great sandy waste cried out 
in wonder, but Ali felt only disappointment. 
The desert of which Marah and his mother had 
talked was peopled with Bedouins who rode 
like emirs on fine horses, or wandered here and 
there pitching their tents by wells among the 
sand dunes, or in green oases where palm trees 
grew; but the desert he saw was like a great 
bare floor. 

“ Are there no tents then? ” he asked in so 
mournful a voice that Baba answered com¬ 
fortingly: 

“ Have patience, oh, little one. The ocean 
is not drunk in a swallow, nor the desert seen 
at a glance.” 

Soon, too, the disappointment was lost in the 
interest of making camp for the night. At the 


54 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


“ Ikh! Ikh! ” of the drivers the camels knelt, 
and Ali was glad to climb from the litter and 
stretch his legs after so long a sitting. 

It seemed to him that he should never be able 
to run and jump again, but with a little trying 
the stiffness left him and he was as lively as 
ever. Every one, even Zeyd, was lively and 
busy in the preparations for the night. Loads 
were lifted from the camels’ backs, and the 
beasts secured against wandering. A tent for 
the merchants was set up, the camp fire lighted, 
and supper soon upon the way. 

Ali would have opened his food bag, but Mo¬ 
hammed said: 

“ To-night there are meats and cakes for a 
feast, and the merchants would have you eat 
with them.” So Ali was their guest. “ Now 
we are friends,” he told them gravely, for to eat 
together is a bond of faith among the Arabs, 
and this he had often heard from his mother and 
Marah. 

The merchants, who knew of the customs of 
the country, nodded and smiled at him, and 
Yusuf, who by this time had learned many 
words and talked in Arabic with ease, said 
kindly: 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 55 

“ May our friendship never fail, oh, little 
Ali.” 

After the supper came an hour when mer¬ 
chants and guides and drivers, with Ali among 
them, sat by the camp fire for the telling of tales 
and singing of songs. The maker of rhymes 
had couplets for every one. Of Ali he said: 

“ What shall Ali have for a plaything to comfort 
him on the long way? 

We shall give him the moon for a ball. He may 
keep it all day.” 

And of Zeyd he sang: 

“ O Zeyd, if in the desert you would roam, 

’Twere better far to leave your flesh at home; ” 

And this rhyme bringing a tale to Baba’s 
mind, he told it to them: 

“ Know ye,” said Baba, 44 that a certain 
camel-merchant who was a fat man, went with 
his beasts from the city of Damascus to the city 
of Aleppo, which is the journey of a day. And 
he took with him a radif to carry his spear, a 
driver for his camels, and a singing man that he 
might be merry on the way. 

44 And it so happened that resting by a well 
the caravan was beset by a ghrul, which has the 
shape of a woman, the beak of a bird, and two 


56 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


feet, one of which is like the foot of the ostrich, 
and one like the hoof of an ass. And this ghrul 
so filled the air with cries that for the sake of 
peace the merchant called to her: 

44 4 Tell us, oh, ghrul, what seek you, that so- 
be-it we can give it and have rest? ’ And the 
ghrul answered: 

44 4 I seek a fat young man, for my children 
are hungry and I have naught to give them.’ 
Then the merchant said: 

44 4 Take my radif and go in peace.’ But, 
when she had felt of the radif, the ghrul said: 

44 4 The picking of this man’s bones is not 
worth the trouble thereof; ’ and she would not 
have him. So the merchant said: 

44 4 Take you the camel-driver, for he is fed 
on milk.’ But when she had felt the driver, 
him, too, she refused. 

4 4 4 My pot has room for more than he,’ she 
said; and the merchant offered the singing 
man. 

44 But the singing man had the secret of cer¬ 
tain words, and when he had whispered these 
into her ear the ghrul said: 

44 4 1 have not salt enough for this one,’ and 
she let him go. So then the merchant said: 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 57 


Of all the best I have, I have made you 
offer. Go now, and find your supper with the 
Bedouin.’ 

Nay,’ said the ghrul, ‘ you are the man I 
seek, and the milk to seethe you is already sim¬ 
mering.’ 

“ The treacherous merchant would, doubt¬ 
less, have received his just punishment had it not 
been that, by the mercy of God, a caravan came 
up, from which the ghrul fled. In this company 
was a dervish, who, seeing the miserable man 
alone on the sand, for his companions were gone 
and he had fallen in a swoon, had pity upon him 
and rescued him. To this dervish he told his 
tale, and being led by him to repentance for his 
evil treatment of his wayfellows, the merchant 
gave half his goods to feed the poor, and lived a 
benevolent life thereafter. But from that time 
forth he was a shrunken man, and the saying was 
that the ghrul had eaten him, for, wellah, he had 
grown lean from fright.” 

There was great laughter at this tale of 
Baba’s which ended the merrymaking for the 
night. Soon the camp was quiet, but the still¬ 
ness only kept Ali awake. He was used to the 
noise of the city, and there, too, had been his 


58 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

mother and Marah to answer his faintest whis¬ 
per. 

A sleeping-rug had been spread in the mer¬ 
chants’ tent for him, but he wished now that he 
had stayed by the fire with Mohammed and 
Baba, to whom he might have spoken. He 
leaned on his elbow and listened, hoping that a 
voice might tell him that another besides him¬ 
self was wakeful. Not a sound was to be 
heard, but as he looked he saw a great ungainly 
figure lurching toward the doorway of the tent. 

“ The ghrul! The ghrul! ” cried Ali, but the 
words were little more than a gurgle in his 
throat, and before he could get breath to call 
again, the tent shook as if an earthquake up- 
heaved it, and from the group outside rose first 
a scream, and afterward the sound of laughter. 

Then came Mohammed to tell the merchants, 
who by this time were aroused and anxious, that 
a camel had slipped its knee-band and gone 
wandering about the camp to stumble over 
tent-ropes and startle Zeyd. 

“ Little Ali here would not have cried so 
loud, but Zeyd is a man full of fears,” said Mo¬ 
hammed in excuse, and he added, laughing, “ he 
thought it was the ghrul.” 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


59 


Later, Ali felt it right to tell Mohammed that 
he, too, had been afraid and thought as Zeyd 
had, but Mohammed only answered as if it 
were no matter of surprise: 

“ Aye,* wellah, to have fear is no disgrace, so 
be it that you have courage also.” 


* Verily. (See Glossary.) 


CHAPTER VI 


% 


As soon as the morning prayers were said at 
sunrise, the caravan began its journey across 
the desert. Now for mile upon mile and day 
after day the camels and men must struggle 
through loose, billowy sand in the burning 
glare of the sun. Sometimes the little tent of 
the merchants was hastily set up for shelter, 
but oftener they crouched in the shadow of the 
camels to eat their noonday meal. 

Whenever it was possible, they traveled at 
night, when the wind was cold and the camels 
went without urging, but whether they jour¬ 
neyed or rested, the hot hours of the desert day 
must be endured. 

In spite of the heat and the sand, and the 

weariness which came from these, they went, 

for the most part, without complaint, and found 

happiness in every relief, no matter how small, 

from the discomforts of their way. The 

shadow of a rock in which they might rest was 

60 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


61 


a cause for rejoicing; to see a bush on which 
bits of cloth had been hung, as the custom was, 
to show that other travelers had passed that 
way, made as much talk and laughter as though 
they had met friends on the road; and when 
digging under a damp spot in the sand they 
uncovered a water hole, the whole camp sang 
with Ghafil: 

“ Like a bracelet set with sparkling gems, 

Is the rim of a w T ell in the desert sand.” 

Ali bore his part bravely in all these things, 
and soon a saying went among the men: 

“We started to the great sheik with a child, 
but now, wellah, it is a man that Hassan car¬ 
ries.” And it is true that Ali grew fast and 
learned much. 

It was not long before he had all the cries 
and calls of the camel-drivers at his tongue’s 
end and could put them to use. At the resting- 
places he could bring Hassan to his knees with¬ 
out aid from any one, and if, as sometimes hap¬ 
pened, the camels grew skittish and started 
from the line, Ali was as quick as Baba to 
check them with a “ Woo, wooloo, woo.” 
Now, too, he often chose to walk beside his 


62 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


camel as the men did, and by and by Baba 
gave him a camel-stick like those with which 
the drivers guided their beasts. Ali wished 
with all his heart that Hamood could see him 
with that stick. 

Every one taught him something. Baba, 
who because he was the guide must know every 
sign and landmark, was always asking: 

“ Look, oh, Ali, and tell me what you see? ” 

The merchants took delight in teaching him 
the meaning of the soft, slurring words of their 
language, and in hearing him repeat their 
names as they were called in their far away 
city: Carlo for Kalil, and Giuseppe for Yusuf; 
and in this Mohammed helped. 

Zeyd, who had brought with him a pocket¬ 
ful of money, taught him the value of the coins, 
and the drivers, among many other things, 
showed him how to put his tongue in the roof 
of his mouth to make the clucking sound with 
which they encouraged the camels. And this 
he delighted in doing. 

Then, too, he learned from Ghafil, who loved 
all animals and birds, the names of the desert 
creatures, the gentle gazelles, the mountain 
goat with its great horns, the little hare, which 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 63 

is the swiftest of all, and the giant lizard or 
thob of which Marah had talked. There were 
also wildcats and hyenas and wolves, of which 
Ghafil had not so much to say; and of birds 
there were dun swallows, blue roving rock- 
doves, and falcons, that built their nests on the 
highest crags of the cliffs. 

With all these things to watch for and talk 
about, the desert no longer seemed a dreary 
waste to Ali, yet no one was gladder than he 
when at the end of a long weary afternoon Baba 
called suddenly: 

“ Look, oh, my brothers! The black tents 
of the Bedouin! ” 

As quickly as if his words had been of magic, 
the little company roused itself to interest and 
curiosity. Even the staidest camels frisked 
and jumped as if they had never before seen a 
tent. The encampment was a small one, half 
a dozen tents in a vale among the dunes where 
a water-hole and a little pasturage of rubia and 
acacia bushes had lured the nomads. When 
Ali called to ask if he might find his grand¬ 
father here, Baba laughed at him. 

“ Ali the Great has a thousand tribesmen 
and flocks and camels but these, wellah, are but 


64 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

poor herdsmen who will scarcely spare a sheep 
for a guest-feast.” 

Nevertheless these poor folk must be treated 
with courtesy. There must be no approach to 
their doors without due notice, so while the 
caravan halted, Mohammed went forward to 
announce its coming. 

“ And come you with me, oh, little Ali,” he 
said, “ for, whether for fear or love of Ali the 
Great, you will not lack a welcome in the beyt 
of any Bedouin.” 

As they went nearer, Ali saw that the tents 
called black were, in fact, of a dark-brown 
cloth woven of camels’ hair, so Mohammed 
said, by the women of the tribe. The largest 
tent, before which a lance was thrust into the 
sand, was the home of the sheik, and stood in 
the midst of the camp, with its doorway care¬ 
fully protected from the sun. In this door¬ 
way a woman sat rocking a sheepskin bag upon 
her knees, and when the strangers came up she 
called to them: 

“ Let me, I pray you, take the butter from 
the neck of the bag and you shall quench your 
thirst on the churn-milk.” And hastening into 
the tent she soon returned with a wooden bowl 



She soon returned with a bowl of buttermilk .-Page 6 J , 





















ADVENTURES OF ALI 65 

of buttermilk, or leban, as she called it, which 
she kindly offered, now to Mohammed and then 
to Ali. 

This was their first taste of Bedouin hospi¬ 
tality, but soon came the sheik, whose name was 
Ibrahim, to welcome them. He was a poor 
man, but he was determined to entertain the 
strangers in a fitting manner. And in spite 
of Baba’s prophecy, orders were given for the 
killing of a sheep, and preparations for a guest- 
feast were soon on the way. 

As for Ali, he had kindly looks and pleasant 
words from every one. Between the tribe of 
Ibrahim and the tribe of Ali the Great there 
was peace and good will, and the grandson was 
invited to drink buttermilk in every tent of the 
encampment. 

While the Bedouins busied themselves in 
making ready for their visitors, the caravan 
was brought up, and the camels were watered at 
a great trough by the well, all of which was at¬ 
tended by a pack of barking dogs and a crowd 
of children. 

Among the group Ali spied a boy of about 
his size and age, or so he thought. This was 
Selim, the youngest son of Sheik Ibrahim, who 


66 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


had just returned from the forage ground with 
his father’s flock. Selim was a boy of judg¬ 
ment, and such a camel as Hassan could not 
long escape his notice. 

“ See,” he said to his companions, “ here is 
a thelul of the best. If he raced with the wind 
he would outrun it; ” and he began to point 
out to them the camel’s marks of value, his 
good teeth and slender legs and his great 
hump, which was the sign of health. 

Ali could not keep from telling that he was 
the owner of the beast, and in this way an ac¬ 
quaintance, and then a friendship was begun 
between himself and the shepherd boy. 

44 Why do you ride like a woman, in a lit¬ 
ter? ” asked Selim as soon as they had learned 
each other’s names. 

“ My mother and Marah, the nurse, would 
have it so,” said Ali, who was a little shame¬ 
faced at the question, and he hastened to add: 
44 When I come to my grandfather, who will 
understand such matters, I shall ask for a 
saddle.” 

44 Aye, it were better so,” said Selim, who, 
clad in a sheepskin coat, ran barefoot over the 
hot sand and knew nothing of luxury. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 67 


He had no camel of his own, but once in his 
roaming he had found a young gazelle which 
he had brought home and fed on goats’ milk. 
Now the fawn went with the flock and came 
at his call like one of the sheep. And this pet 
he must show Ali. 

Besides the gazelle, Selim had as possessions 
a shepherd’s crook, a sling, a plaything made of 
two shards, which spun on a string with a hum¬ 
ming sound, and a reed or pole on the end of 
which was an iron hook. With this last he 
hoped some day to catch a thob, which he called 
Master Hamid and the sheik of the wild beasts. 
Let Selim but find the hiding-place under the 
sand where the great lizard slept and he would 
fetch him out with the hook around his body; 
or so he told Ali. 

Selim knew all the simple arts of Bedouin 
boys: how to set a trap for the desert rat, how 
to send stones sailing straight to a mark from 
his sling and how to make shawns or horns of 
green grass stems. And he had met dangers 
in his shepherd’s life. Once, when no help was 
near, a wolf had come to his flock, but Selim 
had known how to cope with him. Mounting 
a rock, he had called to his sheep till rushing 


68 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


together they had killed the grey-legged thief 
with the press of their bodies. 

And only the day before as he watched his 
sheep, a band of horsemen had ridden out of a 
cloud of dust and threatened him as they 
passed. Had he tended camels instead of the 
smaller animals, they would have robbed him. 
But not before he had sent his stones about their 
heads. 

“ A shard lay waiting in my sling,” he told 
Ali, who, hearing these adventures, longed for 
like ones. 

“ Think you, oh, Selim,” he asked anxiously, 
“ that I may tend the flocks of my grand¬ 
father? ” 

“ Aye, wellah, are you not his grandson? ” 
said Selim, but later he added that Ali must 
first learn the ways of the sheep, and how to 
care for them. “ They need to drink but 
every second day, and must not wander ” he 
instructed; and presently with a sharp pointed 
stick he drew two symbols on the sand: 



ADVENTURES OF ALI 69 


“ This,” he said, pointing to the first, which 
had two straight lines, and one curved like a 
young moon, “ is the wasm that marks the cattle 
of Ali the Great, and this, which resembles a 
club, is that of Ibrahim, my father.” 

Ali could have listened longer to this talk, 
but a stir rose at the tents, and the boys must 
go to ask the cause. When they reached the 
camp, they found that the Merchant Yusuf 
had offered to open his chest of medicines and 
find a dose for a child who was sick with a 
fever; and every one felt that he must see this 
done. 

The women of the tribe, who had all such 
matters in their hands, crowded around to watch 
the Hakim, as they called the merchant, handle 
his packages and bottles. They looked wise 
and asked many questions, but it was plain to 
see that they knew but little, and when Yusuf 
had given the child a powder they expected a 
cure at once. 

To give medicine to the ignorant sometimes 
proves dangerous to the doctor, and Moham¬ 
med looked upon the whole proceeding with 
misgivings. 

“ Pray God the merchant has made no mis- 


70 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


take,” he said so often that even Ali began to 
grow anxious. After a time, however, the 
mother of the little one came running to tell 
that he slept and that his skin was cool; and 
then the visitors sat at the guest-feast with easy 
minds. 

Ali could have had a place with the men, but 
choosing to stay with Selim he ate his mutton 
broth and mereesy among the children, whose 
mothers had saved them a portion. And when 
the great wooden bowl in which the broth had 
been served was brought from the guest tent, 
he dipped his fingers in the leavings as eagerly 
as the rest. 

After the feast the children played at horses, 
running by pairs over the sand dunes, while the 
older girls stood by to clap and sing. Ali, who 
on the day before might have thought such a 
game unbecoming for a boy who carried a 
camel-stick, entered into the sport with zest 
when he saw that Selim, who had met wolves 
and robbers, was among the foremost players. 
The game was at its height when some one 
called: 

“ Lo, Selim! Your brother comes,” and 
the racing was stopped while they watched the 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 71 

approach of a young man who rode upon a 
bright bay mare. 

That his coming could mean anything to 
him, Ali did not dream, but not long after the 
newcomer had alighted and gone into the guest 
tent Mohammed came out and beckoned to the 
boy. 

“ Tidings for you, oh, Ali,” he called; “ One 
day more and, God willing, you shall see the 
face of your grandfather, for the young man 
has passed his herdsmen on the road, and at 
the Oasis of the Running Water we shall find 
the great sheik himself.” 

After this Ali and Selim would play no more, 
but sat in the starlight talking. All their talk 
was of when and how they should meet again, 
but, this as you shall hear, was sooner than they 
expected. 


CHAPTER VII 

The news that the young man brought was 
of importance, not only to Ali but to the whole 
caravan. In the great sheik’s camp Baba 
hoped to get fresh camels to supply the places 
of one or two that had proven too weak for a 
longer journey. There, too, could be learned 
all the news of the desert, from the falling of 
a meteor, to the drying up of a well. But the 
greatest cause for rejoicing was that, from this 
time on, they could doubtless rely on the sheik’s 
protection from Bedouin robbers who preyed 
upon caravans. Some of these were sheiks 
themselves, but, even so, they would regard the 
commands of Ali the Great, aye, more than 
the Caliph’s letter; or so Baba thought. 

“ The Caliph sits in the city, but Ali the Great 
rides in the desert,” he laughed as he started the 
caravan again; and Ghafil answered: 

“ Each hopes to escape the danger far away, 

But fears the one that he may meet to-day.” 

72 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 73 

Selim stood on the sand dune to watch them 
go, but there was little said at parting. The 
Bedouin have more words for welcome than 
for farewell, but nevertheless Ali knew he left 
a friend behind. 

As for himself, he was but half-glad that his 
journey was so near to its end. The next day 
might bring him to his grandfather, on whom 
so much depended, but when this was accom¬ 
plished he must lose his wayfellows, every one 
of whom he had learned to love. This night 
as he walked among them, first one and then 
another spoke to him with kindly words or jests 
to make him laugh. 

“ See now, oh, Ali,” said one of the drivers, 
“ what good fortune the dates in the way have 
brought us. Baba did not look to see the tents 
of your grandfather before the new moon.” 

“ Take care,” warned another, “ lest on the 
great sheik’s leban you grow fat as Zeyd, and 
the ghrul come for you.” 

A third one had a plaintive note: “ Wellah, 
we shall miss the child and Hassan in the days 
of the long march.” And to this all agreed: 

“ Aye, aye, little Ali and the camel will he 
missed.” 


74 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

The merchants, too, were sorry at the 
thought of parting with their charge, but they 
were full of promises and plans. 

“ When we come again,” said Kalil, “ shall 
I bring my sons, oh, Ali? And will you give 
us leban at your tents, and let us fill our girbies 
at your well, and call us friends? ” 

“Oh, come!” cried Ali. “The sons shall 
ride on Hassan and upon the horses of my 
grandfather; and he and I shall make a feast 
for you.” 

Pleasant as this was, the merchant Yusuf 
had something still more pleasant to suggest : 

“ When you have grown to be a man,” he 
said, “ perhaps you will come, not upon Has- 
san’s back but on a ship with sails like wings, 
across the sea to find us in our city and see its 
wonders for yourself. How would you like 
that for adventure? ” 

“ If I live and you live, I shall come,” prom¬ 
ised Ali, whose heart began to grow light 
again. 

Later on, when he rode in the litter, he turned 
these pleasant plans over and over in his mind. 
First, his mother and Marah and the little one 
would come from the city, bringing happiness 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 75 

with them. Then Ali would tend his grand¬ 
father’s flocks, and when he had fought with 
wolves, and caught thobs, and driven away rob¬ 
bers, he would be a man. If the good merchants 
should come to the tents, he would ride on Has- 
san’s back, but with a saddle, to show them the 
best ways over the desert and keep them from 
harm. And when they returned to their city 
of wonders, he would go with them, but not to 
stay. He would never be willing to live in any 
place but the desert. 

He thought, too, of Selim, his friend. The 
sons of Kalil would be friends, but not such as 

t 

the shepherd boy. If Selim could go with Ali 
on the ship with sails like wings, it would be 
well, and that this must in some way be ar¬ 
ranged was his last plan before, rocking and 
jolting as Hassan rocked and jolted, he fell 
asleep. 

When he waked, a streak of dawn was shin¬ 
ing in the sky and Baba was sounding the call 
to prayer. Never in the world would Ali for¬ 
get that moment, for it was just as the caravan 
halted that he saw a band of horsemen riding 
furiously towards them. 

Even before a word was spoken, Ali guessed 


76 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


that these were robbers. Afterwards, all was 
confusion and noise, the sound of threats, cries, 
and blows, and the bellow of excited camels. 
Above all else, Ali could hear Baba’s voice 
shouting directions and defiance in the same 
breath as it were. 

“ Make the camels kneel, oh, slow of wit. 

“ Be quick, oh, Zeyd, or you shall pay with 
your possessions for your slowness. 

“ Back, dogs of the desert, think ye to rob 
the friends of the Caliph, and the grandson of 
Ali the Great? ” 

Merchants and men alike were quick to de¬ 
fend the camels and the merchandise. Even 
Zeyd brandished his stick and stood before his 
beasts with all the bravery he could muster; 
and Ghafil called to encourage his comrades: 

“ Fight, oh, my brothers, fight for the camels 
you love. He who will not fight for his camel 
deserves no camel.” 

Ali, who at the beginning was anchored in 
the midst of the caravan, longed to fight also, 
but at first the best that he could do was to 
soothe the frightened camels. “ Woo, wolloo, 
woo ” he called, but presently, seeing that Baba 
was hard pressed by a fierce-eyed bandit, he 





Merchants and men alike were quick to defend the 
CAMELS AND THE MERCHANDISE. --Page 76 . 















































































































ADVENTURES OF ALI 77 


sent his camel stick flying towards the robber 
with all the force that he possessed. The stick 
fell harmlessly enough against the robber’s 
horse, which swerved as if a fly had lighted on 
him. The robber’s lance, which would have 
fallen on Baba’s head, missed its mark by just 
so much as the swerve, and the good Baba was 
saved for that time at least. At this success, 
Ali balanced himself in the litter and shouted 
daringly: 

“Warak! Warak! ” And it was now 
that he attracted the attention of a scowling 
giant, or so he seemed. 

“ Ho, little dog of a stranger,” he cried, 
“ Whom think you to drive back with such 
loud barking? ” 

His hand was already on the camel’s leading 
strap when Hassan struggled to his feet, and 
breaking loose from the halter plunged into the 
crowd of fighters who willing or not must make 
room for him. The giant of a robber stood 
staring stupidly at the end of the broken strap 
which he still grasped; Baba^ caught at the 
camel’s head as he passed; and Zeyd scarcely 
jumped aside in time to save himself; all this 
Ali saw in a glance as he was hurried away. 


78 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


On the outskirts of the throng the camel 
paused, but the next instant he was speeding 
on, and the boy saw that a fresh danger, this 
time from the very desert itself, was upon them. 

Just before the camel took his sudden flight 
Ali had felt the sting of sand grains upon his 
face, and now they leaped and danced through 
the air, growing thicker and faster every mo¬ 
ment till the very sky was hidden. 

In this storm the caravan and robbers were 
soon lost to sight. Except for shrill cries, Ali 
would not have known that they were near, 
and shortly, for Hassan traveled fast, he could 
hear them no longer. 

The tiny grains of sand beat upon his face 
with the sharpness of needles, and, except in 
a lull of the wind which drove the sand along, 
he was forced to close his eyes for fear he would 
be blinded. 

Fortunately the storm was not a long one, 
and when the wind died away, and the air 
cleared, the desert lay as smooth and bright as 
though it had never been disturbed. But ex¬ 
cept for a great rock not far ahead and a little 
cluster of sand dunes there was nothing to be 
seen. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


79 


Hassan made his way to the rock and lay 
down in the shade with a grunt of satisfaction, 
but as soon as Ali could free himself from the 
sand which had drifted about him in the litter, 
he ran beyond the rock to call: 

“Baba! Mohammed!” Even though the 
robbers should hear as well as his friends he 
could not be silent. “ Ghafil,” he cried, “ oh, 
Ghafil! Here am I.” 

His voice was as shrill and weak as the cry 
of a bird in the wilderness, and call as he would, 
no answer came. After a little he ceased to 
call but not to hope. Surely some one would 
come to seek him, and what so likely as that 
Baba, who knew all landmarks should think 
of this great rock? Always Baba could find 
the rocks. With this comforting thought Ali 
sat down by the camel to wait, but the excite¬ 
ment of the morning had left him tired, and 
resting his head against the camel’s back he fell 
asleep. Never, even in the courtyard at home 
when his mother sat near and Marah sang in 
her crooning voice, had he slept so soundly as 
he did in the desert with only Hassan to keep 
him company; and when he waked it was with 
a familiar sound in his ears. Tom! Tom! 


80 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


Tom! There was no mistaking what it was. 
Had he not heard it when his father marched 
away? Tom! Tom! Tom! Drums! Drums 
in the desert! 

Surely he thought some great general or 
Emir with troops of soldiers was close at hand 
and the pageant he had seen in the city street 
flashed upon his memory. 

“ Hassan, oh, Hassan! Now we shall be 
saved,” he called but the camel did not stir for 
all the drums. Even when a moment later Ali 
ran across the sand toward the spot from which 
the sound seemed to come and shouted at the 
top of his voice to attract the attention of the 
passers, whoever they might be, Hassan lay as 
quietly as before. 

The drums were faint now. Soon they 
ceased entirely and then Ali grew confused. 
Had they been in this direction or that, or were 
they drums, after all? At last only one thing 
seemed certain to him: he was alone and help¬ 
less, and throwing himself upon the sand he 
lay there sobbing. 


CHAPTER VIII 

“ If in the desert you are sad and perhaps 
a little lonely, remember the sweetmeats in the 
bag,” Ali’s mother had said on the day he left 
home, and as he lay crying on the sand her 
words came back to him. It was almost as if 
she had known of this very time, he thought, 
and he was glad that, though he had opened the 
package once and shared some of its contents 
with Zeyd, a little cake and a handful of raisins 
were left. 

As he went to the litter to get these he re¬ 
membered, too, that he had had neither water 
nor food since the guest-feast. In the excite¬ 
ment of the morning he had forgotten his 
breakfast, but now that he had thought of it he 
could scarcely wait to get the girby and food- 
bag from beneath the drift of sand which cov¬ 
ered them. 

Hassan had drunk at the well on the evening 

before and needed no water, but he must be fed, 

81 


82 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

and because the drivers of the caravan had al¬ 
ways cared for their beasts before themselves, 
Ali would not eat until he had given the camel 
a portion of dates and washed the dust from 
his eyes. 

For his own meal, Ali had the last caravan 
biscuit that was left in the bag, dates, water, 
and the sweetmeats which he saved for the last. 
He felt so much better after eating them that 
he hastened to wipe the tear-stains from his 
face, for fear his friends might come and see 
them there, and it was not long before he was 
looking about for something he might do to pass 
the time. Perhaps he should go to the sand 
dunes and see what lay behind them. Sheik 
Ibrahim’s tents had stood among such hills and 
Selim had told of feeding his flock beyond an¬ 
other ridge. 

“ It would be no wonder if a shepherd lad 
were on the other side of these dunes,” thought 
Ali, and with this hope to urge him on he started 
out that very moment. 

From the shadow of the rock the sand hills 
had appeared close at hand, but before Ali 
reached them the distance seemed to grow to 
miles, and the soles of his feet burned on the 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 83 


hot sand. Then, too, when he had come to 
the ridge and climbed it there was nothing to 
be seen beyond but sand and sunlight. Not 
even so much as a desert rat stirred in the heat. 

He came down wearily and was turning 
towards the rock when one of the many things 
he had learned in the caravan came to mind. 
With a shard that he found near by he scraped 
a hollow in the sand and taking off his sandals 
thrust his feet against the cooler earth that lay 
beneath the surface of the desert. As he sat 
enjoying the relief this gave, he wished with all 
his heart that Baba and the rest could see how 
capable he was. It was true, as they said, that 
he was growing to be a man, and if they had not 
come by morning, he and Hassan would go to 
seek them instead of sitting still and waiting. 

He had gotten so far in his thoughts when 
it came to him that while he sat there cooling 
his feet the camel was free to go wherever he 
might please. Ai — i! perhaps he had already 
started. 

Snatching his sandals from the ground, Ali 
hurried toward the rock which seemed farther 
away at every step. And it was impossible to 
run fast in the blazing sun that dazzled his 


84 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


eyes and scorched his face. Soon even to walk 
was hard, and all the while he imagined that 
he saw the camel moving. 

But when after so long a time the rock was 
reached, Hassan lay in the shade chewing his 
cud with great contentment, and now Ali re¬ 
called that the drivers said, “ A good camel 
waits for his burden.” 

Nevertheless Ali would take no chance. He 
would not leave the camel again, and when 
night came he would sit in the litter. Then if 
danger should threaten, Hassan could speed 
away as he had done in the peril of the morn¬ 
ing. All of this Ali planned as he rested on 
the sand, but by and by he sprang to his feet 
with a new idea. While he was waiting for 
night to come he would gather all the stones 
that he could find and store them in the litter, 
for now that he had cast away his camel-stick 
he had nothing whatever with which to defend 
himself. 

He practised throwing pebbles, too, and 
though he was not so skillful as Selim with his 
sling, he sent them skipping along the ground 
to a distance that pleased him. Soon he turned 
the practice to a game, and heaping up two little 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 85 

piles of sand he named one the robber, and the 
other one the wolf. 

“ See, oh, Hassan,” he called as he sent his 
pebbles to these marks, “ I have struck the 
robber,” or “ Look, oh, look, the wolf is dead.” 

By the time he had tired of this, the sun was 
going down and he must eat his supper, which 
was but dates and water. Ali was not waste¬ 
ful with either, for he had learned in his own 
home to be careful, and though the men of the 
caravan were apt to overeat at the stopping- 
places, Baba had warned them many times 
against it. And Ghafil had a rhyme that said: 

“ Who sates himself will find to-morrow 
His empty food-bag filled with sorrow.” 

Ali sat by the camel’s side to eat, and as they 
munched the dates he laughed and said: 

“ Now, oh, Hassan we are friends.” 

Still, even with a friend like Hassan, the 
loneliness grew almost too great to bear as the 
daylight faded and no caravan appeared. 
When Ali climbed into the litter, he was very 
near to tears again. 

While he sat there, all the stories of wild 
beasts that he had heard from the men came 


86 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

to him. One of these had been of a bear that 
went by night to steal almonds from a tree into 
which a thief of human kind had climbed, and 
the two thieves, meeting, were so astonished that 
in their efforts to escape each other they tum¬ 
bled to the ground. This, however, was but a 
tale for laughter. There were neither bears 
nor almonds to tempt them in the desert. 

Another tale had been of a hyena that 
prowled about a smouldering camp fire. He 
had reached the edge of the ashes when a sudden 
flame sprang in his very face, which so be¬ 
wildered him that he ran into a tent, where he 
was killed. The men of the caravan had 
laughed at this also, but now Ali, who had no 
means to make a fire, thought of it soberly and 
wondered what might have happened had there 
been no flame. 

He had heard, too, of a hyena that followed 
a poor camel mile after mile, waiting for it to 
fall and die. Even in the midst of his friends, 
the tears had come to Ali’s eyes as he listened 
to this tale, and here in the desert with Hassan 
to think of, it seemed sad beyond all words. 

Happily, though, there was another tale, 
with a pleasanter ending, to remember, for the 



“Now, OH, Hassan, WE ARE FRIENDS. ”-Page 85 






















































































































ADVENTURES OF ALI 87 

merchant Yusuf had told of a boy in the land 
of India who had tamed a tiger with the music 
of a flute, and tigers, so the merchant said, were 
fiercer far than any beast in the desert. 

As soon as he had thought of this, Ali 
clapped his hands together. He had no flute 
it is true, but what of the pipe that Marah had 
hurried so to bring? In the novelty of the 
journey it had lain unused in the litter, but now 
Ali sprang from his seat to get it and try its 
tone. Aye, it could make as loud a noise as 
ever. He himself did not like to hear its shrill, 
piercing note in the great silence of the desert, 
and Hassan snorted uneasily at the sound. 

“ Wooloo! Wooloo! ” Ali said soothingly, but 
he was not sorry that Hassan did not like the 
pipe. There was no magic music in it, to be 
sure, but if wild beasts came, he would try what 
noise could do to conquer them. 

He had just climbed into the seat to wait for 
whatever might come when between the sand 
ridge and the rock he spied three ostriches, with 
their great feathered bodies perched on long 
legs like bundles on poles and their small heads 
bobbing on necks as high and stiff as the Emir’s 
banner-staffs. It was a comical sight to see 


88 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

them marching solemnly, one behind the other, 
as if they were having a procession of their own, 
and all unconscious of being watched by a boy 
whose mind was filled with mischief. 

Ali had heard much of the ostrich in the camp, 
where an endless dispute had been waged be¬ 
tween Zeyd, who thought the bird hid its head 
in the sand to escape danger, and Baba, who 
laughed such tales to scorn. The merchants 
had taken the fat man’s part for once, but Baba 
had held fast to his denial, and the last word 
in the arguments was always his: 

“ Have patience, oh, credulous ones; when 
you see an ostrich, you shall know the truth.” 

And now Ali would be the first to know! 

Lifting his pipe to his lips he blew a wailing 
note that would have startled anything, or so 
he thought. Oh, ho! If only Zeyd were here 
to see how fast the great birds ran on their 
long legs, with their wings flapping and their 
necks stretched out! There was no need to 
blow the pipe again, even if Ali could have 
spared the breath from laughter. Before the 
sound of the first blast had died away, the os¬ 
triches looked like nothing but three little puffs 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 89 

of dust in the distance. And Baba had been 
right; no hiding of heads for birds like these! 

Ali could picture the scene around the fire 
when this was known; Zeyd’s downcast face, 
jubilant Baba, and the merchant Yusuf writ¬ 
ing the truth in a little leather book, as he was 
so fond of doing. Ghafil would doubtless 
make a rhyme or song about it, and there would 
be laughter and jests for days. 

“ But, eigh me,” sighed Ali, “ when will this 
come to pass? ” 

Before he could fall to brooding, however, 
Hassan, perhaps because of the noisy pipe, or 
perhaps because he was accustomed to travel 
at night, rose to his feet and journeyed forth. 


CHAPTER IX 


After the long hours of waiting, how pleasant 
it was to travel with Hassan through the night! 
The wind was cool, so cool that Ali must wrap 
himself in his mother’s shawl, and, by and by, the 
stars, which are nowhere else so bright and 
beautiful as in the desert sky, began to shine. 

Ali knew the names of some groups: Orion, 
the Pleiades, the Bear. These his mother had 
taught him in the happy evenings long ago 
when they sat together on the housetop. He 
thought of her as he watched them now, and once 
when a beautiful blue meteor trailed across the 
sky he wondered if she saw it, too, and if Marah 
sat beside her in his place. 

If this were true, he knew they talked of him. 

Whether he had kept warm in the shawl, 

whether the sweetmeats had all been eaten by 

this time, whether he had been glad that Marah 

had remembered his pipe; these would be some 

of the things about which they might speak, he 

thought. Or if his mother were sad and anx- 

90 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 91 

ious, the nurse would be sure to comfort her by 
saying, as he had heard her say so many times 
in the days of preparation for his journey: 

“ God watches over all, as the stars watch the 
desert.” Marah’s talk was always full of stars, 
to which she compared everything from the ba¬ 
by’s twinkling toes to the wealth of Ali the 
Great. 

His grandfather must love them, too, for did 
he not call his daughter, “ Star of the Desert ”? 
Pleased with the thought, Ali chose the bright¬ 
est of all that shone above him for his mother’s 
star. Aye, that was the one she was like. 

He felt almost as if he were riding to her, 
as Hassan went so swiftly and confidently. 
There was no break in his speed. All through 
the night the boy, waking from his fitful rest, 
felt the familiar rocking of the good beast’s gait, 
and fell to sleep again assured of safety. 

In the morning it was the same; mile after 
mile the camel traveled without pause. Ali 
must say his prayers in the litter and wait for 
breakfast till a stopping-place was reached; 
and that he left to Hassan. He knew what he 
was about, this wise beast, and Ali could do no 
better than to trust him. 


92 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

He was so sure that there was purpose in the 
camel’s haste that at every sand dune he looked 
out expectantly. Here perhaps would be 
found the shade, or well, or encampment which 
the beast was seeking. The very fact that he 
must guess at the destination made the child 
eager and alert; and there was little on the way 
that escaped his notice. 

Once, as they went through a little valley be¬ 
tween the dunes, a heap of great white eggs in 
a kind of ridged hollow caught his attention. 
These he guessed to be ostrich eggs, and he 
wished that he might get one to show his friends 
when he should see them again; but the nest 
was left behind while he thought of this. At 
another time Hassan drove a swarm of locusts 
before him, and once a viper lifted its head from 
a stone, — but, God be praised, too far away for 
its fangs to strike the camel’s legs. At a little 
distance Ali saw bones scattered here and there, 
each one polished clean, and glistening in the 
sun. Beyond doubt, something, perhaps a 
camel, had perished at this spot, and hyenas 
had feasted. 

It was a sight that would have sobered the 
bravest traveler, and Ali rode downcast and ap- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 


93 


prehensive until a pleasant happening diverted 
him. Now it was a troop of gazelles, white as 
the sand over which they bounded, that he and 
Hassan came upon. For a little space the 
pretty deer-like animals ran beside the camel, 
and Ali called to them in friendly fashion, 
“Woh-ho! Woh-ho!” He would have been 
glad to keep such gay, light-footed companions 
but, though they showed no fear, they were soon 
off and away in another direction. And after 
this there was nothing but loneliness on every 
side. 

The sun was high, and the air quivered with 
heat. Already Ali was driven by thirst, but 
the girby lay in the other side of the litter and, 
even could he reach it, the risk of dragging it 
across the camel’s back was too great. A lurch 
might send the bottle from his grasp, or the neck 
might come untied, as had happened to the milk- 
skin in the porter’s story. Thirsty as he was, he 
would wait, but he strained his eyes for a sign of 

the longed-for resting-place. 

For a time the desert stretched smooth and 
empty before him then, suddenly, a huge in¬ 
distinct form appeared in the distance. What 
it was, he could not make out, but its size, its 


i 


94 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


shape, and its sudden appearance filled him with 
awe and apprehension, and, by all the means 
he knew, he urged Hassan to turn aside; but 
the camel had grown used to his own way. As 
steadily as ever he moved straightforward, and 
Ali began to doubt the beast’s good sense, of 
which he had been so proud. 

“ Oh, foolish one, why will you hurry to de¬ 
struction? ” he called in despair, but Hassan 
only went the faster. 

Having nothing else to do, the boy stared 
with fascinated eyes at the mysterious form. 
It seemed to kneel on the sand like a camel and 
its back rose in a great broken hump, but there 
its resemblance to any creature that he knew 
ended. He saw, or thought he saw, two mis¬ 
shapen heads and a horn as tall as a palm tree, 
and, what with one fancy and another, he was 
soon convinced that he and Hassan were travel¬ 
ing toward a dreadful monster. 

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the form 
disappeared, how or where it was impossible to 
tell. One moment it loomed against the sky¬ 
line, and the next it was gone. Ali shaded his 
eyes with his hand and looked again and again 
but, except for a small irregular heap of stones 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 95 

a little way off on the sand, he saw nothing. 

His first thought was that the whole matter 
must be the work of Jinn, to whom Marah at¬ 
tributed everything too great for her under¬ 
standing, and who, according to the nurse, could 
hide in so small a thing as a bottle or vanish in 
empty air; but this explanation did not satisfy 
him. Presently he recalled caravan talk of 
mirage, and was ready to believe that this had 
been the cause of the mystery. Had not Baba 
told, and Yusuf written in his little book, about 
tricks of the desert air and light which made 
pebbles seem large as rocks, and rocks as great 
as mountains? Wellah, he thought, the stone- 
heap might have been his monster! 

His fear was gone, but the experience left 
him bewildered and uncertain. When, later 
on, the camel changed his course and a cliff rose 
into view, Ali doubted his eyes and half-ex¬ 
pected it to shrink or vanish. And to add to 
his anxiety, Hassan slackened his pace, and 
stumbled more than once. 

“ Courage, oh, my beloved,” called Ali 
quickly. “ The end of the journey is not far.” 
Often Baba had told his drivers to talk to their 
beasts, and oftener still he had cried, “ Sing, 


96 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

Ghafil, sing; the camels are weary ”; so now Ali 
sang: 

“ The hills shall come out to meet you, 

You shall drink at the wells of sweet water.” 

And next he must try the encouraging 
“ gluck ” of the camel-drivers, though his 
tongue made but a feeble sound against the 
roof of his parched mouth. 

Later, words of prayer came to his lips: 
“ God guide your steps and bring you safely to 
your journey’s end.” This had been his moth¬ 
er’s prayer for him, and he felt the better for 
repeating it for Hassan. Aye, truly, to leave 
all things with God was best. Was He not 
watching over all, as the stars watch the desert? 

The cliff, which had proven steadfast and 
unchanging, was within easy distance now. 
Another stride or so and Hassan had reached 
it, and even before the beast sank to his knees 
Ali spied the gleam of water in the hollow of 
a rock. 

All the hardships of the journey were for¬ 
gotten then. There was no room in the boy’s 
mind or heart for anything but joy and grati¬ 
tude. How great was God! And Hassan, 
Hassan was His wisest camel! 


CHAPTER X 


Hassan, though the wisest and best of his 
kind, must be coaxed to the pool with a “ Wee- 
aho! ” and Ali himself must bathe his face and 
hands and eat and drink, but when these things 
were accomplished, he looked eagerly about the 
place to which the camel had brought him. 

Here all was different from the open desert. 
A sandstone cliff with towering crags was on 
one side, and great rocks, in whose shadows 
there was already the coolness of evening, 
stood about a little sandy spot that reminded 
Ali of the courtyards at home. 

The pool, which must be of rain water, as 
Ali could find no spring or stream to feed it, 
lay in a natural cistern which time and weather 
had hollowed out in a shelf of the cliff, and, be¬ 
cause the sun’s rays seldom reached it, was 
cooler than any other water that Ali had tasted 
in the desert. He must run to drink again be¬ 
fore he looked farther. 

97 


98 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


This done, he turned his attention to the 
rocks, which he saw were filled with curious 
things. On one, the largest of all, was carved 
a face, with a mouth wide spread as if in laugh¬ 
ter, and upon almost every other one, rude pic¬ 
tures and letters and lines of wild writing had 
been cut or scratched. 

Ali was examining them curiously — this 
would be a goat, and this perhaps a gazelle — 
when it came to him that these were the work 
of travelers or wanderers who had left their 
marks on the rocks to cheer those who might 
come after them. And others would come. A 
tale, a song, and news of water; these three 
travel fast and far in the desert; or so Ghafil 
said. Aye, others would come, and Ali and 
Hassan would be rescued. 

In his joy he determined to leave his own 
mark here, but what should he make? He 
thought of a camel, but when he had drawn one 
in the sand it looked not at all like the good 
Hassan. He tried one thing and then an¬ 
other, and decided at last upon the wasm of 
his grandfather that Selim had shown him. 
He made it first in the sand, and then, with a 
sharp stone, on the rock beneath the laughing 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 99 

face, where it showed very plainly. In com¬ 
parison with it, all the other signs seemed dim 
and worn. Search as he would, he could not 
find one newly made and though he reassured 
himself by saying that to-morrow his would be 
as stained as the rest, he could not put away the 
thought that it must have been a long, long 
time since the carver and the picture-makers 
passed this way. 

His hope of a speedy rescue sank as quickly 
as it had risen, and he was turning sadly toward 
his camel when he felt a sudden heat beneath 
the soles of his sandals. Looking down he saw 
that he had trodden on a little heap of ashes. 
Ashes still hot! Then a fire must have burned 
there not many hours before! Perhaps the 
makers of it had cooked their breakfast over 
its flame! 

“Weyley! Weyley! that I should have 
missed them,” cried Ali, yet his spirits rose. 
The travelers had gone but, God willing, he 
would blow the ashes of their fire into life again. 
He tried once, twice, and three times without 
success. Then, just as he was despairing, an 
ember glowed steady and strong beneath his 
breath, and another. Now if he could but find 


100 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

a little fuel he would have a blaze to sit beside 
when night came on. He covered the embers 
carefully and ran to gather sticks, stalks, even 
bits of dry herbage, anything and everything 
which might feed a flame. 

He had heaped up quite a pile in readiness 
for the first sign of darkness when he spied on 
a high ledge of the cliff a small green bush. 
Here was a treasure, but not for fuel. 

“ Look, oh, Hassan, yonder grows your 
supper,” he cried, for no sooner had he seen it 
than he determined to get the plant which 
would be, he knew, like healing medicine to his 
weary beast. He had had no experience in 
climbing, it is true, but his legs were stout and 
his head was to be trusted. It never turned 
sick or giddy as did Zeyd’s when a camel 
lurched to its feet or knelt without warning. 

Then, too, when he came to the foot of the 
cliff he saw among the rocks a kind of rough 
path which served to guide him though, wellah, 
it was hard enough to climb. Often he could 
scarcely mount the steeps over which it led and 
once he must cross a ledge so narrow that it 
was all that he could do to find a foothold. 

“ God be praised that I can meet no donkey 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 101 

with loaded panniers here,” he cried as he 
pressed himself against the wall of the cliff. 

But any path is better than none, and this 
one brought him at last to the spot where the 
bush grew, a great flat rock from which he 
could see for miles around. In one direction 
were other cliffs as high as the one on which 
he stood, in another he thought he saw the 
branches of trees, and far far away a little cloud 
of dust arose. 

Ali stood as straight and tall as he could and 
called at the top of his voice: “ Lullul, lullul, 
lullul-la,” a cry of joy that he had learned from 
Marah. Never had he been so high! “ Lullul, 
lullul, lullul-la! ” 

The bush grew in a light soil of wind-blown 
sand and came up easily at Ali’s first tug, and 
when he saw, close by, the withered stalks of 
another plant, his satisfaction was so great that 
he must shout again — “Lullul! Lullul!” 
Aye, he was glad that he had come. 

He tied the bush to a corner of his head- 
cloth and tossed it over his shoulder, thrust the 
stalks in his girdle, tucked up the skirt of his 
smock to allow for greater freedom in climbing, 
and was ready to go back to Hassan, when he 



102 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


happened to look down on the path by which he 
had come. On his way up, his eyes had been 
fixed on what was above him and he had thought 
little of dangers, but now he grew dizzy and 
sick with terror at the perils which awaited him. 
Never, never could he leap those yawning 
chasms or cross those ledges or trust himself 
on those slippery rocks! Suddenly his legs be¬ 
gan to tremble and he sat down as far from 
the edge of the cliff as he could get. Alas, how 
high above the earth he was! 

He had sat there long enough for his head 
to grow less giddy, but not long enough to re¬ 
gain his courage nor to plan how he should get 
down from the terrible heights, when he saw a 
large bird flying toward the cliff. Sometimes 
it whirled in circles and sometimes darted 
swiftly downward, but always it came a little 
nearer. In spite of his misery, Ali could not 
keep from taking interest in its flight. Soon 
he saw that it was black, and later that it held 
something in its bill. 

“ A falcon,” he said remembering Ghafil’s 
lessons and how he told that such a bird builds 
her nest in the highest crags of the mountain, 
to escape if she can the falconer’s reach. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 103 

What if there were a nest and young birds 
on this very cliff, thought Ali. The bird car¬ 
ried food, he was sure of that, and as she flew 
still nearer he heard, from below the rock on 
which he sat, sharp cries, such as nestlings make. 
These were the first living sounds besides his 
own voice and Hassan’s grunts that he had 
heard since he lost his friends, and it was all 
that he could do to keep from shouting again, 
even though he knew that he must not betray his 
presence to the mother bird, that would be fierce 
and ready to fight an intruder. 

He only waited, though, to see her fly away 
before he stretched himself flat upon the rock 
and thrust his head beyond the brink. Aye, 
there in a nest of sticks built on a crag not more 
than an arm’s length below him were two young 
falcons that looked at him with startled eyes. 

“ Fear not, oh, little ones, I will not harm 
you,” he assured them. He lay there a long 
time watching them as they opened and shut 
their bills, crowded against each other and 
finally settled themselves to sleep. Even 
when he spied the mother bird returning, he 
drew his head in reluctantly; but to-morrow he 
would come again, he promised himself that. 


104 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


As he rose to his feet again, all the dizziness 
was gone and most of the fear. He began the 
downward climb without delay, clinging to 
every crack and crevice for safety and sliding 
down the steepest rocks, though not without 
some damage to his clothes. He was already 
halfway down the cliff when he came upon a 
staff that had been dropped or cast aside on a 
shelving rock. So then, another traveler had 
climbed here, and though he must have been a 
careless fellow to throw away a stout stick, Ali 
would save it for him, and use it, too. 

Now everything was easy. With the staff 
to steady him he crossed the narrowest ledge, 
and leaped across the widest gap without fear. 
Almost before he knew it, he had reached the 
ground. 

“ Lullul, lullul, lullul-la! ” When he saw 
Selim again, what adventures he, Ali, would 
have to tell! 


CHAPTER XI 


Even though it was far from supper time, 
he could not wait to give the bush to Hassan, 
who snatched at it eagerly. Just as Ali had 
thought, a few green leaves were worth more 
to the beast than a bag of dates; and once again 
he was glad that he had climbed the heights. 

“ To-morrow we shall go to seek my grand¬ 
father, oh, Hassan,” he cried, seeing with joy 
how much a little rest had done toward restor¬ 
ing the camel’s vigor. 

Ali himself was tired from his unaccustomed 

exercise, but he must not rest until he had seen 

if the ashes still retained their heat. He held 

his hands above them and felt the warmth of 

the smouldering embers but he did not disturb 

them. Though he was eager enough to try his 

skill as a firemaker, he would not burn so much 

as a straw as long as daylight lasted. The 

stalks he had brought from the cliff he laid 

with the sticks he had already gathered, and 

105 


106 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

determined to seek more, for of fuel he could 
not have enough for the dreary hours of the 
night ahead. 

He longed with all his heart for a companion 
to sit with him beside his fire; any one who 
came would be welcome. 

“ A fire makes friends of strangers 
And peace between enemies; ” 

so one of Ghafil’s songs began, and Ali was 
ready and willing to believe that it was true. 

His best hope for company was the man 
whose staff he had found. Since he had time to 
think about it, he was convinced that the stick 
had not been cast away, but hidden for safe¬ 
keeping on the cliff; and the owner might return 
for it at any moment; or so Ali liked to think. 

He turned the stick over in his hands and 
tried to imagine what manner of man the owner 
might be. It was a good, strong staff, a little 
thicker than a camel-stick and well suited for 
a weapon, or a support in the perilous ways of 
the desert. A pilgrim, a herdsman, a guide; 
any of these might use it, or a falconer. Aye, 
a falconer, whose livelihood depended on climb¬ 
ing, he would be the man to leave such a thing 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 107 


where he would have need of it; but if he came, 
Ali would beg him to spare the nestlings on the 
crag. 

Just then it occurred to the boy that the 
falcon’s aerie might be spied from the ground, 
and he ran to look up at the crag where he 
knew it was built. The nest was too well 
hidden to be seen from below, but as Ali 
stood gazing upwards a feather came floating 
through the air. Nothing could have pleased 
him more than this. A feather from the 
falcon’s wing! His fingers fairly trembled as 
he caught the prize and fastened it into his 
head-band, thinking all the while of how he 
should say some day: 

“ Look, oh, my Selim (or 4 See, oh, my 
Ghafil ’) the feather of the hawk whose nest I 
found on the rocks.” 

With so much to do and see, it was impos¬ 
sible to rest! Instead, he went wandering 
among the rocks picking up bits of fuel and 
singing scraps of Ghafil’s songs, but always 
keeping his eyes wide open for any adventure 
or marvel that might present itself. 

The face of the cliff was broken with hollows 
and recesses, some of them large enough for a 


108 ADVENTURES OF ALX 


man to enter, and into these he longed to go. 
One, a great hole or cave, was close to the 
ground, and stooping on his hands and knees 
Ali tried to look inside. For a time, fearing 
that it might be a wild beast’s lair, or the den of 
snakes, he kept a safe distance from the en¬ 
trance but, by and by, his curiosity overcame 
his prudence and he crawled a little nearer and 
a little nearer, until at last he was into the 
mouth of the cave. Once there, he found that 
it was a low-roofed cavity of no great depth, 
and bare as the floor of the desert. If it had 
not been for a tiny crevice in the rocky wall at 
the back of the cave, through which a thread of 
light shone, he would have gone away disap¬ 
pointed in his adventure; and so missed all that 
followed. But his curiosity was aroused, and 
peep through the crack he must. 

What he expected to see, he could not have 
told, but he was trying earnestly to adjust his 
eyes to the tiny space when, to his horror, a part 
of the wall on which he had put a hand to steady 
himself began to move. Before he could step 
aside or catch at anything else it had swung 
backward from its place, leaving a gap in the 
side of the cave; and, unable in his surprise to 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 109 

keep his balance, All tumbled through the open¬ 
ing. 

The next instant he found himself on the 
floor of a second and larger cave which was 
filled, or so it seemed to him, with magic. All 
that he could see at first were ripples and color- 
waves of crimson, purple, orange, and glints 
of gold that danced like the sand grains in the 
storm before his eyes. Wellah, it was magic! 

Presently, when his terror had somewhat 
subsided and he had collected his wits, he saw 
that the cavern was a storage place for merchan¬ 
dise. Yards of shimmering silks hung from 
half-opened bales; beads, bracelets, and all man¬ 
ner of gold and copper trinkets glittered in a 
stream of sunlight that poured through a cleft 
in the roof, and wherever he looked, there was 
such variety of wares that he might easily have 
imagined himself in a city bazaar. 

It was from all of these and not from magic 
that the color and sparkle had come, he saw 
that plainly now, and when, after a little, he 
went to look at the opening in the wall he found 
no magic there. The stone or rock on which 
he had leaned was cunningly arranged on 
pivots to open and shut like a door between the 


110 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


lesser and the greater caves; one had but to 
know the secret, or to stumble on it. 

Ali had been more frightened than hurt by 
his fall, and soon he was all interest in the scene 
before him. In this strange storehouse noth¬ 
ing was in order. An unsheathed sword lay 
among women’s veils and shawls, a length of 
damask trailed along the floor; red-topped 
boots, such as the Syrian riders wear, camel 
saddles, gay with trimmings, and headstalls for 
horses were heaped with handkerchiefs and 
sashes, and a lance was tipped with a satin tur¬ 
ban. 

In one corner was food: bread and salt, bas¬ 
kets of figs and dates, and a jar of milk. Ali, 
who had been inclined to think that he had come 
upon the hidden treasures of old kings of which, 
like all Arabs, he had heard stories, knew now 
that this could not be so, for the fruit looked as 
fresh as though it had been gathered that very 
day, and the milk as white as if just emptied 
from the churn-bag. 

His mouth watered at the sight of the good 
things, but he had not forgotten his mother’s 
tale of the coat on the bush. Marah had 
thought he did not understand its meaning, but 



In this strange storehouse, nothing was in order 

-Page 110. 






















, •» 















' 









ADVENTURES OF ALI 111 

Marah was not so wise as she believed herself. 
Not one tig nor sip of milk would he touch till 
those whose property was here at the mercy of 
the tinder should come to share the food with 
him, as doubtless they would do. He would be 
as honest as a hundred or a thousand Bedouins. 

Soon he found entertainment in wandering 
from heap to heap of merchandise, deciding 
what he would take if he might have it. A 
camel-saddle, the red-topped boots, and a 
lance; these were for himself. And for his 
mother, a shawl and silks. A string of blue 
beads would please the nurse, because she 
thought they brought good fortune to the 
wearer, and for the little one he chose an amu¬ 
let or charm of coral, a tiny horn tipped with 
gold. He had amused himself in this fashion 
till he was tired and was starting away from 
the cave when in the shadow of an unopened 
bale of cloth he came upon a little leather- 
covered book. The moment that he set eyes 
upon it he felt certain that it was the merchant 
Yusuf’s book in which the record of their jour¬ 
ney was kept. The size was the same and the 
color, and the pages were covered with writ¬ 
ing. Ali could not read this, but he turned 


112 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


the leaves hastily. If it were Yusuf’s, a pic¬ 
ture of Ali would be there. The merchant had 
drawn it on the day when Baba had given the 
boy the camel-stick. 

Aye, there it was, looking just as it did when 
Yusuf had shown it to him and read aloud what 
was written beneath: 

“ To-day Ali has a camel stick, and goes with 
laughter in his heart.” 

Beyond doubt the book was Yusuf’s, but 
how came it here in this lonely hidden place? 
Ali’s first thought was that the caravan had 
sought shelter from the heat among the rocks 
and that the cave had been discovered and 
visited; but this explanation was not in keep¬ 
ing with his knowledge of Yusuf, who was 
painstaking and careful to a fault. Never 
would lie have left his precious record behind. 

That the book had been lost on the road and 
found by the owners of the storage place seemed 
as improbable. Always the volume traveled 
in Yusuf’s own particular bag on the back of 
the smallest camel, whose load was not heavy, 
but the most valuable of all. 

“ A thief, though, might have taken it,” said 
Ali, but it was not until he began to wonder 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 113 


who the thief could have been that the truth 
flashed upon him. The robbers! The rob¬ 
bers who had beset the caravan. How stupid 
he had been! But now he understood every¬ 
thing— the mystery of the book, the secret 
door, the disordered merchandise. He was in 
the den of thieves, and all the wealth was stolen, 
not only from his friends, — their camels could 
not have borne the half of it — but doubtless 
from many another merchant traveling peace¬ 
ably from city to city. But they should be 
punished, these wicked thieves. God and Ali 
the Great would requite them for their evil. 
And the Caliph should be told. 

In his excitement and confusion he ran about 
the cave trying to distinguish the goods of 
Yusuf and Kalil from the rest. The beads 
might be theirs, and the damasks and silks, they 
had brought such things from their city of 
wonders, but he could be certain of nothing, 
and soon everything swam in waves of color 
again. He was forced to sit down upon the 
floor to steady himself. 

Till he discovered that the robbers had taken 
the goods of the merchants, Ali had had little 
apprehension for the caravan. In his own 





114 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

peril and loneliness he had pictured his friends 
traveling on, perhaps in search of him, perhaps 
to find the tents of his grandfather, but to¬ 
gether and safe. As for the robbers, they were 
always overcome and put to flight in his imag¬ 
ination. Any other ending to the battle in the 
storm had never occurred to him. Had not 
Baba guided twenty caravans safely to their 
journey’s end, and worsted robbers in a dozen 
fights ? 

But here was a different matter. Sitting 
with Yusuf’s little book in his hands, he could 
think only of his wayfellows as scattered and 
wandering without food or water, or lying dead 
on the cruel sands. 

Ai — i, he should never see them again; the 
good merchants, and Baba who was so brave 
and wise, and Ghafil with his singing. He 
named each of the little company softly, with 
the tears running down his cheeks. 


CHAPTER XII 


The boy himself was in great danger. At 
any moment the robbers might return to find 
him in their secret place; if indeed they had 
not come already and were lying in wait outside 
the caves. Ali remembered the dust he had 
seen as he looked from the cliff top. That 
would have been from their riding, he thought, 
and while he had amused himself with their 
treasure there had been ample time for them 
to have covered the distance. Or if they had 
not come, they were doubtless close at hand. 
Even if he rode away, he would meet them, and 
how could a child contend with a score ? 

To hide seemed to him his only chance for 
safety, and he looked about wildly, trying to 
find a nook or corner in which he might lie con¬ 
cealed. A little space behind a few unopened 
bales at the farther end of the cave was the best 
that he could see, but he ran to crouch there. 
The bales were small, and Ali must be careful 

115 


116 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


not to let the skirt of his smock show beyond 
bounds, but he felt a certain security. God 
willing, he should stay here until the robbers 
had eaten their evening meal and gone to sleep. 
Then if all went well he could creep out, mount 
Hassan, and make his escape. In the mean¬ 
time there was nothing to do but wait, and he 
would have settled himself in patience if he had 
not remembered that the door of the cave stood 
open. 

To leave his refuge and swing the stone into 
its place took almost more courage than he 
possessed, but no sooner was it done than his 
spirits rose. It would be a wise man who 
could guess now that the secret of the cave was 
known, and when no owner appeared the rob¬ 
bers might even think that Hassan was a wan¬ 
dering camel that had broken loose from some 
traveler’s camp, a thing by no means impos¬ 
sible along caravan routes. 

As for the beast, he would come to no harm, 
and if the men should bind one of his knees to 
keep him from going farther, Ali could free 
him. Nothing was easier. But if the litter 
were taken from his back — that would be quite 
another thing. How could Ali travel then? 



ADVENTURES OF ALI 117 


He would have to ride the camel bareback, as 
Sa-ad, one of the drivers, had sometimes done; 
or he could make a cushion of his mother’s 
shawl or a rug from the cave. He had time 
enough to plan, lying so quietly behind the 
bales; and to think of fresh dangers, too. 

Soon he began to fear that the men, instead of 
going to rest after their supper, might ride 
away, and in that case they would never leave 
the camel behind. The very thought of this 
changed all his plans, and it seemed to him 
that he could not go from the cave quickly 
enough. He must save Hassan, come what 
would, or, if that could not be done, he would 
be captured with the beast. Aye, let the rob¬ 
bers take him, too. 

He was running toward the door when the 
sword that he had noticed earlier caught his eye 
again. Wellah, with a weapon he could fight 
for his camel as an owner should, he thought, 
and he hastened to draw the blade from the 
tangle of delicate fabrics among which it was 
half-hidden. “ Ho! ho! Now let them 
come,” he cried, as he flourished it over his 
head. The boldest among them would think 
twice before he risked himself against a sword 


118 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


like this one. Never was there such sharp¬ 
ness. The tissues and silks had split at the 
merest touch of its edge. And it was of mar¬ 
vellous beauty, with patterns of gold traced 
upon its surface. Surely it must have been 
made for the Caliph or the Pasha or at the least 
an emir, but it would serve Ali as well. When, 
a moment later, he ventured from the caves he 
was almost disappointed to find no one waiting 
to do battle with him. 

So much had happened since he last stood in 
the little court that it seemed strange to see 
Hassan lying so quietly in the shadows and to 
think that only an hour or so ago he, Ali, had 
scratched his grandfather’s wasm on the rock 
and collected the heap of fuel. Ai — i! All 
that he had gotten together with such pains 
would feed the robbers’ fire to-night; but this 
was more than he could bear. Setting upon 
them as fiercely as though they were the enemy 
he longed to fight, he scattered the sticks and 
stalks in every direction. 

“ Let them find and gather for themselves,” 
he cried as he sent the last twig flying across 
the sand. 

But this was no time to talk or think of rob- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 119 

bers if he meant to escape them. He ran to 
put the sword in the litter and fill the girby at 
the pool, which, haste or no haste, must be done. 
Then if only Hassan were willing to travel, the 
start might be made at once. Everything de¬ 
pended on the camel. He was the one who 
chose the time and the way for their journeys; 
Ali knew this very well. 

“You will go, will you not, oh, my beloved, 
to save yourself and me ? Remember the 
giant’s hand on your reins,” he said coaxingly. 

If it were only night, when the beast liked to 
show his speed, or if Ali had something with 
which to guide him, all would be different.One 
of the sticks that he had cast away might be of 
use, or the staff, which in the excitement of his 
later discoveries he had forgotten. Doubtless 
it was a robber’s, and surely Ali could take it, 
though such a thing was likely to be the man’s 
own property and not stolen goods. 

“ I will take it, but I will pay for it,” said Ali 
and rummaging among his belongings he 
brought out a small coin which Zeyd had given 
him and laid it on the edge of the pool. Not 
even the Cadi who had settled the dispute be¬ 
tween Hamood and the pipkin-seller could be 


120 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

more just than this, he told himself; and his 
mother would think well of what he had done. 

He was about to mount to his seat when on 
the surface of the cliff he saw a ray or spot of 
light that flashed first on one rock and then on 
another. Now it disappeared, now came again. 
Once there were two mounting almost to the 
ledge where Ali had climbed, then one again 
flitting like a bird from point to point. 

Ali had seen a dancing light like this before, 
but it had come from a mirror with which Kalil 
had caught the sun’s rays and thrown them here 
and there against the blackness of a rock to 
amuse the camel-men. But where was the mir¬ 
ror to account for this? 

All at once it seemed to him that Kalil him¬ 
self must be here making sport as he delighted 
to do, and leaving everything the boy ran out 
to find him. 

His first glance into the open desert showed 
him no friends; but two horsemen came riding 
slowly toward him dressed in the usual Eastern 
fashion and bearing lances whose polished sur¬ 
faces were bright as silver in the sun. It was 
easy enough to guess that it was from these that 
the mysterious light had been reflected, yes, and 



TWO HORSEMEN CAME RIDING SLOWLY TOWARD HIM. 

—Page. 120. 


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_ 




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ADVENTURES OF ALI 121 

the horsemen were the robbers. There was no 
doubt in Ali’s mind about this, but nevertheless 
he stood and watched them as calmly as if he 
were a sheik in the doorway of his tent. 

To his surprise, though, when they caught 
sight of him the riders drew rein, and one of 
them, who was a little in advance of his com¬ 
panion, called: 

“ Who are you? ” 

If he had not believed the speaker to be one 
of the band that he so dreaded, no question 
would have been more welcome, but as it was 
he could scarcely keep his voice from trembling 
as he answered: 

“ I am little Ali, grandson of that Ali who is 
called the Great.” 

“ Who is with you? ” was the next question 
as the men still held their horses back. 

Ali wondered at their caution. The bandits 
who had beset the caravan had seemed afraid 
of nothing, but these would take no risk. 
Could it be that they were but travelers and 
fearful themselves of thieves? Certainly there 
were but two of them, and neither was the giant 
whom Ali dreaded. The faces of the other 
robbers were confused in his memory, he might 


122 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


or he might not have known them again, but 
even the uncertainty gave him confidence. 

“ Have no fear, oh, wayfarers,” he called 
reassuringly. “ Here are but my camel and my¬ 
self lost from our friends and wandering in the 
wilderness. Wellah, it is God who has sent 
you to our rescue.” 

He extended his hands toward them in his 
eagerness, but they came no nearer, and Ali 
could see that they consulted and argued with 
each other. He was beginning to be fearful 
again, when the one who till now had not spoken 
pushed his horse ahead and held up his finger 
for attention. 

“ Hark you,” he said as gravely as if he were 
a cadi, “ Ali the Great I know, but of his grand¬ 
son I have yet to hear.” 

To the boy it appeared as if all his safety de¬ 
pended upon proving his kinship to the great 
sheik, and in his anxiety he fairly shouted his 
story, telling first of his mother and Marah 
and the little one in the city, and then why and 
how he had come into the desert to find his 
grandfather, whom he had never seen but to 
whom he would be as welcome as water to the 
thirsty. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 123 


“ Take me to his tents, oh, merciful ones,” 
he begged, “ and receive his reward of kind¬ 
ness.” 

There was more consultation between his 
listeners, and once or twice he caught the sound 
of laughter, then suddenly the leader threw 
himself from his horse and came toward Ali 
with open arms. 

“ God be praised for our meeting ” he cried 
loudly, “ for know this, oh, little Ali, I am your 
grandsire.” 

He kissed the boy first on one cheek and 
then on the other, and glancing over his shoul¬ 
der Ali saw that the companion who had 
brought up the horses was smiling broadly. 


CHAPTER XIII 

As soon as he had opportunity, Ali looked 
eagerly at his grandfather. He was a tall 
man, with eyes as fierce as Marah had said they 
would be, but his face was so hidden by a dark 
headcloth which hung in heavy folds to his 
shoulders that the mole on his cheek could not 
be seen. Not that tokens and signs were 
needed now, for everything was different from 
what the mother and nurse had planned. 

“ Wellah,” said Ali, giving a great sigh of 
relief, “ I had thought you were a robber.” 

The companion, who was not unlike Zeyd in 
appearance, though with a shrewder face, 
laughed long and boisterously at this, but Ali 
the Great stood frowning and silent. That he 
was not pleased to be taken for a thief by his 
grandson was plain, and Ali hastened to set 
himself right. 

“ How could I know, oh, father of my 
mother, that it was you whom I had never 

124 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 125 


seen?” he asked anxiously. “And this is a 
place of robbers. I have found their cave in 
the cliff. Come, and I will show you their 
secret door and all their stolen treasures.” 

He was about to tell how his discovery was 
made, but glancing up he saw that the men 
were staring at him with such black, threatening 
looks that the words died on his lips. 

Of the two, the sheik was the angrier, and, if 
the companion had not interfered, he would have 
struck his grandson, though for what reason 
the boy could not guess. He was standing 
helpless and bewildered, knowing neither what 
to expect nor what to do, when the rafik began 
to laugh again. 

“ I have a thing to tell you, child,” he said 
with an eye on the sheik as if to see how he ap¬ 
proved the disclosure; “ The treasure that you 
found is not the robbers’, but your grandsire’s.” 

Had it not been for Yusuf’s little book that 
he could feel at that very moment under his 
girdle, Ali might have believed the man, and 
even knowing what he did, he could not bear 
to think that Ali the Great was one of those 
robber-sheiks of whom his wayfellows had told. 

“ It is a jest, is it not, oh, grandfather, that 


126 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


your rafik speaks? ” he asked with his heart in 
his words; “ but you will tell me what is true.” 

“ Aye,” said the sheik harshly, “ the wealth 
is mine. See to it that you take your news no 
farther.” 

Ali was afraid of the cold, hard man, but he 
must not show his fear. He understood his 
mother’s warnings now, and presently, to hide 
his feelings, he began to talk of other things; 
the bush that he had spied, the heights to which 
he had climbed and the falcon’s nest on the 
crag. 

“ You have only to thrust your head beyond 
the rock to see the nestlings, oh, my grand¬ 
father,” he said, but this it appeared did not 
please the sheik. 

“ The next to come will be the falconers,” he 
grumbled, and to Ali’s great dismay and sor¬ 
row the companion was directed to take his 
staff and thrust the aerie down. 

“ Aye, to-morrow when the young have 
learned to fly,” answered the rafik, “ or shall I 
save them for the son of your daughter? ” It 
was almost as if he had read Ali’s thoughts, 
and his suggestion delighted the boy. The 
birds were too young to fly, of this he was cer- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 127 

tain, but once they were his, he would take 
good care of them. One he would keep for 
himself and the other should be Selim’s; if only 
his grandfather would agree to what the rafik 
said. He waited anxiously for the reply, but 
the sheik’s next words had nothing to do with 
falcons and their nests. 

“Look! Look, oh, Meschid!” he cried to 
his companion, his voice growing high and shrill 
with excitement. “ The wasm! The wasm! ” 
and following the direction of his outstretched 
hand Ali saw that it was his own drawing to 
which the sheik was pointing. 

There was nothing mysterious or wrong 
about it, so far as the child could tell, but the 
men looked at it as though it were an omen of 
evil. Truly, they seemed afraid, both the great 
sheik and the rafik. 

When Ali had scratched the symbol on the 
rock it had appeared a thing to be proud of, 
but now at the very thought of acknowledging 
it as his work, he shrank. He was sure, too, 
that Meschid suspected him. Whenever he 
turned his head to look he found the rafik 
watching him and whispering to the sheik. It 
was not long before his grandfather was cast- 


128 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


ing his black glances at the child and demand¬ 
ing that he tell the maker of the sign. But 
fierce as he was, Ali managed to answer him 
with courage: 

“ It was I, wellah, who drew the wasm, but 
is it not your own? And am I not your grand¬ 
son?” 

“ Aye, true,” said Meschid, whose confidence 
and gaiety were restored. “ And did I not 
say, oh, Ali the Great, that your grandson was 
the one.” But the sheik was far from satisfied. 

“ Talk no more of grandsons,” he shouted 
angrily. “ Nay, Meschid, a snare is laid and 
the child is part of it,” and pushing the rafik 
aside he called to Ali: 

“ Who set you on to tell your tale? See to 
it that you answer truly, or Meschid shall not 
save you from my hands again.” 

He came close with a threatening gesture, 
but Ali held his own, as he had done in the mar¬ 
ket place so long ago. 

“ As I live and you live, the drawing is 
mine,” he said with spirit. “ Two lines and a 
sign like a young moon, so Selim made it in 
the sand as we sat by the tents of Ibrahim while 
the caravan rested. ‘ This , 5 he told me , 4 is the 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 129 

wasm which marks the cattle of Ali the Great.’ 
Ask him, oh, Sheik, if my words are true.” Ali 
felt no fear, but only anger as he spoke, yet 
when his grandfather had no reply for him he 
added pleadingly: “If the sign is not rightly 
made, oh, father of my mother, I can learn. 
You, yourself can teach me.” 

“ Nay, the wasm is well made,” said Meschid 
coming to the rescue and speaking as smoothly 
as ever, “ but the place is ill chosen. If the 
tales be true, the face has been upon the rock 
since the days of Antar the hero, and to meddle 
with ancient things is not wise. It is this which 
troubles your grandsire.” 

The name of the hero caught Ali’s attention 
more than the fact that nothing his grandfather 
had said bore out Meschid’s explanation, 
though afterwards he thought of this, too. 
Where had he heard of Antar? His memory 
slipped back to the time when Marah and his 
mother sat talking and planning for his jour¬ 
ney, — something there had been that belonged 
to the days of Antar. The amulet, now he 
knew, — the amulet that was to make all right 
between his grandfather and himself. In the 
excitement of the unexpected meeting he had 




130 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


neglected to give it to the sheik, but, doubtless, 
it would serve its purpose better now. He took 
it from his neck and held it out, saying gravely: 

“ See, oh, Ali the Great, the token of my 
mother. Now you will know that I have not 
deceived you.” 

The sheik accepted the stone ungraciously 
enough, but whether it was because his 
daughter’s remembrance softened his heart, or 
whether Ali had already convinced him of the 
truth, the boy heard no more about the wasm. 
The interest of the men was centered now upon 
the carnelian, which they turned and examined 
twenty times or more, talking of its value, 
though of that a certain jewel merchant in 
Aleppo would know best; or so Ali the Great 
insisted. 

“ Aye, but Abu of Damascus will pay more,” 
said Meschid who liked the last word in every¬ 
thing. 

Ali listened fitfully, only half understanding 
what they meant, but when the amulet was 
hung about the sheik’s neck and the men went 
to look at the camel, the child followed. All 
that concerned Hassan concerned him, and he 
was glad when the worth of the beast was rec- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 131 


ognized at once. He would bring, so Meschid 
declared, sixty reals in any market, and the 
sheik thought more. 

“ A man would rob himself to sell a thelul 
like this one for so little,” he said. 

“ If the beast were his own, but what of one 
ill-gotten? ” inquired the rafik slyly. 

“ Hamood, who sold the camel, will tell you 
his worth,” said Ali, mindful of his promise to 
the broker. “ I had no money with which to 
pay, only a bracelet of gold which my mother 
bade me offer as surety till you in your good¬ 
ness should redeem it; but Hamood was not 
fearful. ‘ God requites the kind of heart, and 
so, doubtless, will Ali the Great 5 ; this was his 
saying.” 

“ Wellah, I shall reward him,” said the sheik, 
whose humor had improved somewhat. 

Ali would have taken much satisfaction in 
this ready answer if Meschid had not seized the 
opportunity to laugh. Always when the rafik 
laughed the boy felt uneasy and doubtful. 
Alas, poor Hamood! He might have to wait 
for his recompense, after all. 

He had no time to think of the broker, how¬ 
ever, for now the litter was the object of the 


132 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

men’s attention and Ali’s cheeks burned with 
shame when his grandfather cried out con¬ 
temptuously: 

44 The grandson of Ali the Great in a litter. 
Is it not a tale for the market place, oh, Mes- 
chid? ” Still the child could not bring himself 
to tell of his desire for a saddle. 

He stood watching while his few belongings 
were examined and carelessly tossed to the 
ground, girby, food-bag, and all. Nothing 
seemed of value to the men but the staff, which 
the rafik claimed, and the sword, about which 
the boy was closely questioned. The sheik 
himself was curious to know why it had been 
brought from the cave, and Meschid was highly 
amused. 

“ Ho, oh, little Ali,” he cried sweeping the 
weapon perilously near the child. 44 Was it so 
that you would have cut off my head had I been 
a robber?” 

44 Aye,” said Ali bravely. 44 If I could, I 
would have.” 

It would be impossible to tell what dismay 
and disappointment filled his heart. In all 
Marah’s and his mother’s talk the sheik had 
been a hero, fierce, it is true, but just and gen- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 133 


erous and warm-hearted. The poor were fed 
at his tents and the weak protected. And to 
all that he had heard, Ali’s imagination had 
added so much that he had grown to think of 
his grandfather as a kind of potentate with the 
power and dignity of a caliph. But the man 
he had found was a common fellow who robbed 
caravans and bickered with his rafik and blus¬ 
tered in his anger as the hangers-on at the mar¬ 
ket might have done. At every turn and hap¬ 
pening, Ali feared and disliked him more. 
Even the camel distrusted him and bared his 
teeth in a sudden snarl when the sheik came 
too near. 

“What! Snarl you before injury, oh, 
worthless one? ” cried Ali the Great. “ Then 
injury shall follow.” And lifting his foot he 
struck the camel in the face. 

After this Ali had but one thought; he must 
escape. Better the sun and the loneliness and 
the danger of beasts than the tents of cruelty, 
he told himself; and as for his mother and 
Marah and the baby, they must be warned. He 
must take care of them against this wicked 
grandfather. To send a message seemed im¬ 
possible, but presently Ali had other plans 


134 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


which might save both his dear ones and him¬ 
self. 

“ When, oh, my grandfather? ” he asked as 
soon as he could trust his voice to speak, “ will 
you send for my mother? ” 

“ To-morrow,” answered the sheik, who, 
fortunately for the boy, had not noticed his re¬ 
sentment. “ Wellah, to-morrow.” On the 
instant, Ali looked to see if Meschid laughed, 
but finding that the rafik’s face was as calm as 
though he wore a mask, the child ventured an¬ 
other question: 

“ May I not also go? The time has been 
long since I parted from her.” 

“ Aye,” assented his grandfather “ you may 
go.” 

“ And upon Hassan? ” 

“ In the litter,” said the sheik smilingly, 
though his smile was not pleasant to see. Ali 
thought that Meschid’s laughter had less of 
evil in it. And now the rafik was all merri¬ 
ment once more. 

“ Tell me, oh, Ali the Great,” he cried mak¬ 
ing a mocking show of respect and courtesy, 
“ This daughter of yours, — what name bears 
she? ” 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 135 


The sheik was impatient with the question; 
“ Gertha, Miriam, Hirfa; what matters it?” 
he growled. But the name of Ali’s mother 
was Kathafa, the most beautiful in the world, 
he thought. How could his grandfather have 
forgotten? 


CHAPTER XIV 

Though at any other time Ali would have 
been quick enough to set his grandfather right 
in this matter of names, he held his tongue now 
in a kind of dull resentment. He would speak 
no more of his mother to these men, and even 
at the risk of rousing their anger again he drew 
away, and sat down as far from them as he 
dared to go. 

The sun was almost down, and both the sheik 
and rafik hastened to prepare for night. The 
horses, which in the desert are gently nurtured 
creatures, were given milk, a fire was made with 
fuel from some hidden store, and food was 
brought from the cave. Once Meschid ap¬ 
proached the camel with talk of removing the 
litter, but his mind changed before a single 
strap was loosened. 

“ If there were haste in going forth, time 

would be saved if the furniture were left,” he 

136 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 137 

told the sheik, and seeing that Ali listened, he 
added immediately, “ Haste or no haste, the 
little one must ride in ease, is it not so, oh, father 
of his mother? ” 

The sting of his words was lost in Ali’s relief 
at the decision, for though his grandfather had 
said he might go to his mother, the boy had little 
faith in the promise. The hope of slipping 
away in the night was still uppermost in his 
mind. If he could reach the encampment of 
Ibrahim, he would doubtless find help there, 
and already the thought of adventuring to the 
city with Selim for a rafik had come to him. 
To have the litter left undisturbed was a piece 
of good fortune, and soon he had other cause 
for rejoicing; Meschid would not trouble to 
bind a knee of the beast. 

“ He will wait for his burden,” he said, for 
though he was a robber he knew a good camel 
as well as any man, and had the sayings of the 
caravan-drivers, which seemed to Ali a mar¬ 
velous thing. 

The sheik paid no attention to his grandson, 
but when the fire had burned and supper was 
ready, the rafik called: 

“ Come, oh, little Ali, and remember you, 


138 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


when there is bread and salt between us, you 
cannot cut off my head.” 

If Ali had dared refuse, he would have eaten 
nothing. This was no feast of friendship, and 
though he had heard that the tasting of so much 
as a date gave a man the right to say to his 
host, “ I have eaten of your food. I am under 
your protection,” he felt no assurance that the 
robbers, even though one was his grandfather, 
would keep a bond if it suited them to break it. 

He ate reluctantly and sparingly, but the 
men were ravenous. Not until everything be¬ 
fore them was devoured was a word spoken. 
When their hunger was satisfied they relaxed, 
and lost some of their fierceness, and might 
have passed as harmless travelers resting be¬ 
side their fire after the toil of a journey. Mes- 
chid sat mending a garment, as any wayfarer 
might have done at the day’s end, and the sheik 
occupied himself with shaking the dust from 
his sandals and smock, and finally from his 
headcloth, which he took off for the purpose. 

Here at last was Ali’s opportunity to see the 
mole which was to have been his token. In the 
light of the fire which blazed up at the moment 
his grandfather’s face was shown with great 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 139 

distinctness, — a lean hard face without a 
mark! Could Marah then have been mis¬ 
taken? No, Ali’s mother had agreed to every 
word. The great sheik had a mole like the one 
on Ali’s own face, and in the self-same spot 
upon his cheek. Ali looked again into the face 
before him, but on neither cheek was the sign 
to be seen. And no sign, no grandfather! Ali 
fairly gasped with astonishment when he real¬ 
ized this. Ai — i! No wonder the wasm of 
his grandfather had frightened these pretend¬ 
ers, or that his mother’s name had been mis¬ 
called, or that Meschid found such cause for 
laughter. 

In the joy of knowing that he was not the 
robber’s grandson, Ali was near to forgetting 
that he was still in the power of these cruel men. 
He would have liked to leap and spring and 
shout, “ Lullul! lullul! ” but there was need of 
caution. Already Meschid noticed his rest¬ 
lessness though, heaven be praised, he thought 
it came from weariness. 

“ Have you no tale or song for your grand¬ 
son, oh, Ali the Great? he inquired, “For, lo, 
he tires of our dull company.” 

The sheik’s only answer was a growl, but 


140 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

Ali seized upon the words as an excuse to leave 
the fire and lie beside the camel. Aye, true, he 
was tired for the day had been long. 

From underneath his arm, which he flung 
across his face to shield it, he could watch every 
movement of the robbers with safety, if only 
he could keep awake, but there was the danger. 
He was glad when the talk between the men 
grew shrill and loud, as it was apt to do when 
the two differed. All their thought was of 
markets and prices and the robbing of caravans. 
Others of their band had ridden this very day to 
intercept a certain merchant on his way to 
Bagdad. 

“ A punishment fall on them if they gain no 
more from him than from the kaffar,” cried 
Meschid; “ but did I not tell you, oh, my Zamil, 
that all should ride together? ” 

Here was news for Ali that drove the sleepi¬ 
ness from his eyes. Oho! the false sheik’s name 
was Zamil; and of more importance still the 
kaffar, or strangers, as the word implied to the 
boy, from whom the robbers had gained so little 
might be his friends. Not many who belonged 
to other lands crossed the desert, so Mohammed 
had often told him. He listened eagerly, hop- 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 141 


ing for further information, but instead there 
came an outburst of anger from Zamil, who 
swore in Bedouin fashion by the life of his 
horse, the life of the fire, and his own life that 
some one, Ali could not tell who, should suffer 
for his bungling. And after this storm passed, 
the men lighted candles and went into the caves. 

Presently their voices reached his ears, clear 
and harsh in the stillness of the night. Zamil 
was still out of humor, and wrangled with his 
companion. 

“ What say you to the safety of your hiding- 
place, oh, Meschid? ” he asked with bitterness. 
“ When, lo, a child has found it as easily as 
though it sat upon a hill.” 

“ Aye, and so did the blind man find the gold 
piece when his toe had tripped upon it,” the 
companion answered glibly. “ These things 
happen but once, and remember, oh, my Zamil, 
the child is your grandson.” But Zamil was 
in no mood for jesting. 

“ Have done, oh, Meschid, with your fool¬ 
ish sport in which there is no profit. Better it 
were to strike one blow and end all danger of 
discovery,” he cried so fiercely that Ali shrank 
from the sound of his anger. 


142 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


“ Nay, a jest is no harm,” persisted Meschid, 
“ and it were better far to save the child alive 
and gain a ransom from the sheik.” 

“ But if he refuse to pay a ransom for the 
son of a daughter he cast off ? ” objected Zamil. 
“ Or if he deny the kinship? ” 

“ Never fear that last,” said the rafik. 
“ The child is as like him as if the two were 
dates on the same tree. Saw you not the mole 
on his cheek? And as for the rest, pride is 
stronger than anger. The sheik will pay the 
ransom.” 

“Then what of the cave?” demanded the 
other. “ How long would it be before the boy 
boasted of finding it and led the sheik’s men 
here? ” But to this, too, the rafik had an an¬ 
swer. 

“ Can a child chart the desert? ” he asked in 
turn, “ and least of all a silly lad like this one, 
as easy to beguile and turn about as if he were 
a lamb in the fold. And think you it was he 
who found the way to the rocks? Nay, oh, my 
Zamil, ’twas the camel brought him. Know 
you not the tale? If a camel, though but a 
foal at his mother’s side, should drink at a water- 
hole, he can find it again when he is old and 



Presently their voices reached his ears .—Page HI 














































































































ADVENTURES OF ALI 143 


blind. Hassan has drunk at the pool before 
this day.” 

“ Then kill the camel! ” shouted Zamil. 

“ Nay, not so,” said Meschid. “ The camel 
shall be part and parcel of the price. Two 
mares of the best strain, twenty theluls, the 
amulet, and Hassan, in ransom for the child. 
Sounds it not well, oh, uncle? ” 

What Zamil replied, Ali missed, but that he 
had agreed to the rafik’s plan was ^certain, for 
when later on a new dispute rose shrilly in the 
night it concerned only the sorting and pack¬ 
ing of goods. 

No time could be better than this for Ali’s 
escape, or so it seemed to him, and keeping an 
eye on the cave he climbed hastily into the litter. 
All his apprehensions as to Hassan’s willing¬ 
ness to go were forgotten in the excitement of 
the moment, and when in response to a prod of 
his hand the great beast rose, the boy felt no sur¬ 
prise. Hassan would save him to-night as he 
had saved him before. 


CHAPTER XV 


Just as Ali and Hassan went from the Court 
of the Rocks, one of the robbers’ horses stirred 
and whinnied softly, but except for this, no no¬ 
tice was taken of their going; and though the 
boy often looked back with anxious eyes, no 
pursuers came. Presently he must laugh at 
the thought of Meschid and Zamil quarreling in 
the cave while he and the camel went free as 
the light-footed gazelles. 

The open waste was filled with the dim ra¬ 
diance of starlight through which Ali peered 
for landmarks. He might be no more than a 
silly lad, as the rafik had called him, but he de¬ 
termined to lead his grandfather’s men to the 
robbers’ haunt. And in order to do this, he 
must note every rock and tree and sand dune 
along the path. 

So far as he could see, the level gravelly tract 
over which he was passing had nothing upon it 
of distinction, and though the cliff and rocks 

144 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 145 

that bordered it were monuments in themselves, 
Ali had spied other cliffs as high and rocks as 
great when he looked from the heights. It 
would he hard to distinguish one from the 
other; or so he feared. 

Sometimes Baba had found his way by signs 
left by other travelers, and Ali wished that he 
might in some fashion mark his own course; 
then it would be easy to return. To accomplish 
such a thing without endless delays seemed be¬ 
yond reason, yet he was soon trying to devise 
means by which it could be done. He thought 
of everything that he had seen on the caravan 
route; the little heaps of stones, the bushes hung 
with colored threads and bits of cloth, the marks 
upon rocks; and even of the dates at the gate of 
the city, though these were a sign of different 
meaning from those of travelers. 

Yet nothing had shown more plainly than 
the dates against the whiteness of the way. 
Had one been looking for them, it would have 
been hard to miss them; and Ali had dates. If 
he dropped them one by one as he went, a trail 
might be made, if only for a little distance, and, 
God willing, he might find it again. He was 
ready to try the perilous venture of getting 


146 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

the food-bag from the other box of the litter, 
when he remembered that he had left it behind 
with the girby and the rest of his possessions in 
the Court of the Rocks where the robbers had 
tossed them. 

Of all the misfortunes that had befallen Ali, 
to be without food and water was the greatest, 
yet he did not wholly despair. By morning 
the camel might have brought him to a well, or 
his grandfather might be found. In the cool 
of the night it was easy to imagine that help 
would come; and, wellah, it was in God’s hands. 

But to mark the way seemed impossible. 
Ali had nothing now but the garments he wore, 
the book of Yusuf, which must be preserved at 
any cost, and the pipe, which had escaped the 
notice of the robbers. Once, however, Sa-ad, 
a camel driver, had torn a strip from his head- 
cloth to fasten on a stick which he thrust into 
the sand as a token for his brother, who was to 
follow with a later caravan; and the remem¬ 
brance of this suggested a new plan to Ali. He 
would tear his own head-covering into bits and 
scatter them in place of dates. If no wind came 
to blow them away, they would show as bright 
as banners on the sand when the sun was up. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 147 


He set to work that very instant with teeth 
as well as hands to tear the cloth into the small¬ 
est strips that he could manage. He could not 
afford to be wasteful, though when the kerchief 
was exhausted he would use the scarlet fringe of 
his girdle. 

As he dropped the scraps one by one from 
the litter, it occurred to him that the robbers 
might see them and follow them to find him; 
though this seemed no great risk. The trail 
could not be seen at night, and by morning he 
would be far away; or so he hoped. 

“Ho! Ho, oh, Hassan!” he called to the 
camel. “ We must travel fast to-night.” 

He listened for the sound of horses’ hoofs, but 
there was nothing to break the stillness, and al¬ 
ready the cliff seemed but a shadow in the dis¬ 
tance. Perhaps the men might not seek him 
at all. That he had neither water nor provi¬ 
sions they knew, and what more likely than 
that they would look for his return. If he 
should perish in the heat it would please Zamil 
only too well, but as for the rafik Ali could al¬ 
most hear him saying: 

“ Hassan will bring your grandson to the 
rocks again, oh, Zamil.” 


148 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


While these thoughts passed through Ali’s 
mind, his fingers were busy. Soon the cloth 
was gone, and again the fringe. He had just 
dropped the last thread when he saw, close at 
hand, a solitary palm tree standing slender and 
dark in the silvery light. To come upon a sin¬ 
gle tree of its kind in such a barren spot was al¬ 
most stranger than if he had met a human be¬ 
ing there, and the sight filled Ali with joy. 

Here then was a landmark that all Bedouins 
were likely to know, and when he came to the 
tents of his grandfather Ali would only have 
to say: 

“ From the palm tree that stands alone to 
the plain from which the cliff of the robbers 
may be seen lies a trail of brightness.” 

And even as he thought of this, he pictured 
the men of the tribe riding forth with himself 
in their midst. 


CHAPTER XVI 

Starlight turned to darkness, darkness to 
dawn, and dawn to blazing day as Ali and Has- 
san traveled, but no help came. As for the 
robbers, the boy feared them no longer. If he 
thought now of the Court of the Rocks, it was 
only because he longed to drink at the pool. 
And if he looked out eagerly for the sight of 
his grandfather’s tents, it was chiefly because 
he had been told that they stood by running 
water. Or if it were home of which he thought, 
a certain water jar which Marah never failed 
to fill came first to mind. 

Before long he saw water in the desert, a 
long narrow stream between the earth and sky. 
Or was it only a trick of light as the monster 
had been? More than once on the caravan 
route Zeyd had fancied that he saw pools and 
lakes where there were none, and Ghafil had 
laughed and said: 


149 


ISO ADVENTURES OF ALI 

“ He who drinks mirage will die of thirst.” 
And if he were here, he would say the same of 
the stream. Now that Ali looked at it again 
he was sure of this, and he called to the camel: 

“ Do not be deceived, oh, my beloved. Here 
is nothing for us.” 

Later, though, when his head grew light 
from heat and weariness the stream seemed real 
to him and he imagined that every moment 
would bring him to it. 

“ See, oh, Hassan,” he shouted hoarsely, 
“ how it runs to meet us.” Never were there 
such dancing waters and all the sand dunes 
were dancing, too! 

Then all at once the scene changed. Tents 
and palm trees and men stood against the sky, 
though not as such things should be, but upside 
down. Everything was magic and nothing 
could be trusted. Not that this mattered, for 
in another moment Ali seemed to be at home 
lying under the stars with his head in his moth¬ 
er’s lap. 

“ Marah, oh, Marah,” he called “ fill my cup 
I pray you at the water jar.” But instead of 
the nurse it was Zamil who answered harshly: 

“ For you there is no water.” 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 151 

Yet when he looked for the robber, he was 
not there. No one was there but himself, and 
it was he who called in that strange, hoarse 
voice: 

“ For you there is no water. No water. 
No water.” 

After this came a time when he noticed noth¬ 
ing, but lay half-fainting in the litter. Even 
when Hassan, a little farther on, slowed his 
pace and finally stood still, the child was not 
roused. 

How long this stupor lasted it would be hard 
to tell, but by and by he had a dream in which 
he rested like a pasha upon satin cushions, and 
a tall and shadowy figure bent over him to bathe 
his face. There were voices, too, whispering 
all around him, though what they said he could 
not understand. Then all at once he heard 
some one speaking clearly and distinctly above 
the bibble-babble. 

“ A little more and, wellah, we had not found 
life in him. But God is great. The camel 
could not have come straighter to the tents if 
I myself had ridden him.” 

“ A child and a camel crossing the sands 
without water or food,” said another. “ It is 


152 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


a miracle that we have seen, and one that will 
be told as long as the Bedwy live in the black 
tents of the desert, or tale-tellers sit in the 
streets of the city. 

That the talk had something to do with Has- 
san and himself Ali knew, though not yet 
clearly. A child and a camel had crossed the 
sand, — and so had they. But who had come 
so near to perishing, or what the story-tellers 
had to do with it, he was too weak to know or 
care. 

Presently another voice said soothingly: 

“ Take but a sip, oh, little one ” and opening 
his eyes he saw a hand with a cup in it. 

“ Oh, good Marah,” he said faintly, but 
when he had drunk the milk with which the cup 
was filled he felt stronger and his mind began 
to clear. 

Now he realized that he was in a tent. That 
was certain, for looking up he saw the dark 
roof and the rods that held it. The hand that 
offered the cup belonged to a woman whose 
face he knew was not Marah’s, but none the 
less gentle. It was pleasant to have her busy¬ 
ing herself about him, bathing his face and 
lifting him to make him lie the easier. And 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 153 

Ali was drifting off to sleep when a kind of 
awed whisper reached his ears: 

“ What manner of child is this, think you, 
who comes like a hakim with a book of writ¬ 
ings in his girdle? ” 

Everything came back to Ali then; the rob¬ 
bers who must be punished, the good friends 
who were lost and must be found; the message 
of his mother that must be delivered. Throw¬ 
ing off the woman’s hand he struggled to his feet 
calling: 

“ I must go to my grandfather. Oh, friends, 
I pray you, bring me to Hassan my camel, for 
he and I must hasten to the tents of Ali the 
Great, whose grandson I am.” 

The little group of men and women fell back 
as he spoke, and Ali found himself face to face 
with an old man whose eyes were both fierce 
and tender, and who had upon his cheek a small 
brown mole. And without stopping to wonder 
how this thing could be the boy began his mes¬ 
sage: 

“ O Ali the Great, whom God prosper and 
preserve, I am little Ali, son of your Star of 
the Desert, whose husband is dead. Send, I 
pray you, to bring her and Marah, who is old 


154 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


and the little one who is a flower of the city, 
from the walls where they perish, that they may 
live in the tents that they love.’’ 

There was no falter in his voice, nor fear. 
All that he felt was a certainty that his word 
would not be doubted, and a great yearning 
towards the strong old man who stood there 
listening. When the next instant his grand¬ 
father’s arms were around him, he clung to 
him with a passion of love all the stronger be¬ 
cause of the abhorrence he had felt for the false 
sheik. 

“ Oh, father of my mother, you would not 
have kicked my camel! ” he cried out suddenly, 
and though what he said had little meaning at 
the moment to his hearers, it became by and by 
part of a tale which was told as far as the farth¬ 
est herdsmen, and made a nine-day wonder for 
the tribe. And the oftener it was told, the 
more the tribesmen were convinced of one 
thing which swelled their hearts with pride: had 
not Ali been a true son of the desert and of the 
particular tribe over which his grandfather 
ruled, he would not have lived through the 
perils of his journey. 

Hassan, too, had his full share of praise. 



“I MUST GO TO MY GRANDFATHER. -Page 153 




















ADVENTURES OF ALI 155 

All who came to see the little sheik, as Ali was 
soon called, went also to see the camel as he 
rested luxuriously under a palm tree, chewing 
his cud with great content, and fed upon fresh 
green leaves. Some of the visitors recalled the 
foal that had been stolen in a ghrazzu or raid 
of robbers when Ali’s mother was a child no 
older than himself, and that had never been 
seen nor heard-of since. 

“ Wellah, Hassan was that foal,” they said, 
“ or how else could he have found his way to 
the tents unguided? ” But that Ali should 
from all the camels in the market have chosen 
this one was a marvel beyond explanation. 
“ God willed it,” was the beginning and end 
of all their talk as they came and went, or, meet¬ 
ing in the wilderness, stopped to discuss the 
matter. 

The joy and interest that centred about the 
boy did not interfere with other important mat¬ 
ters. No sooner were his adventures told than 
men of the tribe rode out to follow Ali’s trail to 
the den of the robbers, and Zamil and his band 
were surprised and overcome before they had 
time to take their ill-gotten treasures to market. 
All the stolen goods, including the amulet, were 


156 ADVENTURES OF ALI 

recovered, and so far as it was possible restored 
to the rightful owners; and in the days to come 
the Court of the Rocks became the resting-place 
of travelers, for, as Ali had thought, the news 
of water spreads fast in the desert. 

While some of the tribesmen were speeding 
to intercept the robbers, others rode in caravan, 
with camels loaded with gifts and comforts, to 
the city where Ali’s mother and Marah and the 
little one were waiting. All in good time they 
were brought back to Ali the Great, and little 
Ali, whose happiness was then complete. 
Hamood, too, was found and, as the boy had not 
neglected to tell of the broker’s kindness, he re¬ 
ceived not only the proper pay for the camel 
but a reward as well. 

Both the company that rode to the cliff and 
that which went to the city consisted of a score 
and more of brave and trusty men, but to search 
for the lost caravan, Ali the Great chose three, 
wisest of all in desert ways: Obeyd, to whom 
every track on the sands told its tale, Ahmed, 
whose knowledge of landmarks and wells was 
greater even than the sheik’s, and Kasim, who, 
it was said, could find his way for a thousand 
miles by the stars alone. And to each of these 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 157 


the sheik, himself, gave instructions which 
ended in this fashion: 

“ If you find those whom you seek, say noth¬ 
ing of what has happened, but guide them here 
with courtesy and haste.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


The women who cared for Ali would not let 
him go so far as the doorway of the tent, though 
he was eager enough to share in the bustle and 
excitement that he himself had caused. 

“ Lie still, oh, little sheik, and you shall have 
a camel-saddle of the best, with trappings of 
scarlet embroidered with gold, on which you 
may ride to meet your mother when news of 
her coming is brought” they promised; and 
they were quick to add that he must also drink 
camel’s milk, which would make him strong. 

To carry out their instructions might have 
proven hard if Ali’s grandfather had not come 
to sit beside him and listen to every detail of 
his journey; but with a listener who had sym¬ 
pathy or explanation, as the need was, for 
everything, he was well content to rest and sip 
from the cup that seemed always at hand. 

At the strange sights that he had seen in the 

desert, his grandfather showed no surprise. 

158 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 159 

“ Aye, all was mirage, though it takes a child, 
also, to make a monster of a stone-heap,” he 
said, smiling kindly. 

Then, too, Ali learned from him that the 
mysterious drums were only the sound of shift¬ 
ing sands. 

“ Though how, oh, little grandson, could you 
who are city bred know this? ” the sheik asked 
comfortingly. 

The adventure on the cliff, which to his mind 
proved that Ali in spite of city breeding was a 
true Bedouin, filled him with pride, and his 
laughter at the ostriches that ran so fast from 
the boy’s piping brought the children of the tribe 
to peep and see what the matter was. But 
when the talk turned to Zamil and his threats, 
the sheik’s eyes flashed with indignation. If 
word had not come just then of visitors at the 
door, he would have mounted his horse and 
gone himself to punish the robbers. 

At the demands of hospitality, however, he 
curbed his anger and took on the dignity of a 
great sheik, and in another moment Ali heard 
his voice calmly welcoming the guests and in¬ 
viting them to taste of his leban. 

Looking with idle curiosity through a crack 


160 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


in the tent, the boy saw the strangers standing 
in the midst of the encampment; three, no, two 
men, whose faces were as yet turned from him, 
and a lad who reminded him of Selim. He had 
the height and bearing of Ibrahim’s son, and 
wore a sheepskin coat — lullul, it was Selim 
himself, and the men were Kalil and Moham¬ 
med! Here, here before his grandfather’s 
door. Ali would have run to throw his arms 
around them but his strength failed him. He 
must sink back upon his pillows again, though 
fortunately he could still see and hear all that 
passed outside. 

Mohammed was the spokesman, but Kalil, 
who was always quick of tongue, could not be 
silent long. From time to time he interrupted, 
sometimes in Arabic, of which he had learned 
a little, and sometimes in Italian, which must 
be interpreted. 

First came the salutations, and no sooner 
were they ended than Mohammed hastened to 
tell their errand. 

“ Know, oh, Ali the Great,” he said, “ that 
a moon ago two merchants set out in caravan 
across the desert. One of them waits yonder 
with his company, and one, the merchant, Kalil, 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 161 

you see before you. These are men of good 
repute in their own city, and are traveling under 
safety of the Caliph. With them came I, Mo¬ 
hammed, to interpret for them, Baba who is a 
guide, and others, of whom there is no time to 
speak. And besides these there traveled with 
us a child, who was, oh, sheik, your grandson, 
riding upon his own camel with messages and 
tokens from your daughter/’ 

“ And he was as dear to us as if he were of 
our own household,” said Kalil warmly. “ In 
all the caravan there was none who did not love 
him.” 

“ Aye,” agreed Mohammed, “ little Ali was 
loved.” And the sheik spoke gravely. 

4 4 He who cares for the child of the stranger 
as his own will doubtless find favor with God,” 
and turning to the shepherd lad he added; 
44 You are fortunate in your friends, oh, child.” 

At this rose a storm of protest, in which Mo¬ 
hammed, Kalil and Selim all talked at once to 
correct the sheik’s mistake, and it was not until 
the matter was settled beyond question that the 
interpreter took up the tale again. 

44 For many days, oh, sheik,” he said, 44 we 
traveled with safety, but misfortune came at 


162 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


last, as you shall hear. Scarcely had we gone 
the journey of a night from the tents of Ibra¬ 
him where we had rested when robbers came 
upon us.” 

“ If it had not been that a storm of sand con¬ 
fused us, we would have driven them away as 
poor as when they came, and the child would 
be here,” cried the merchant. 

“ True,” said Mohammed, throwing out his 
hands in a gesture of helplessness. “ But it 
came from God, and when by His mercy the 
wind fell and the air cleared, we were left un¬ 
harmed with three exceptions; the lance of a 
robber had wounded the head of Zeyd, a camel 
merchant, who being a fat man defended him¬ 
self but poorly, a pack animal laden with rich 
goods was missing, and little Ali with his camel 
was gone. 

“ All that day and night and on the next day 
we searched. If you, yourself, oh, sheik, had 
been there you could have done no more, but 
until within this very hour we found no trace 
and heard no Word of the child.” 

Here Mohammed paused and beckoned to 
Selim, who had something in his hand. 

“ See, oh, Ali the Great,” he called as he 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 163 


stepped forward, “ a strip of the cloth which, 
as I live and you live, little Ali wore upon his 
head.” 

“ As he wandered with his sheep he came 
upon it, and was hastening to you when he met 
us,” said Kalil, for whose impatience the tale 
unfolded too slowly. “ But let us, oh, sheik, 
have done with words. When all is said, the 
gist is this: little Ali, your grandson, is in the 
hands of evil men, from whom with your aid we 
may rescue him; or, failing that, avenge him.” 

“ But,” said Ali the Great, whose power in 
the desert was as much from shrewdness as 
from wealth, “ I have but one grandson and he 
lies safely in my tent.” 

“ Nay, but this is the child of your daughter, 
and him you have never seen. His mother her¬ 
self told us all the story in her courtyard in the 
city, and if it is not true, then never was a false¬ 
hood so like truth,” cried Kalil in his passionate 
manner. But for all his vehemence the sheik 
was unmoved. 

“ One child have I,” he said, “ and that one 
child a daughter. One son has she, and that 
son lies in my tent. I will go to seek no other.” 

At this the faces of Ali’s friends grew trou- 


164 ADVENTURES OF ALI 


bled, and Kalil the merchant was not afraid to 
speak his thoughts: 

“ Though I go alone to seek this child whom 
his mother entrusted to me, and whom you in 
your hardness of heart cast off, still will I go,” 
he hastened to declare. 

“ And I shall be your rafik,” called Selim, 
the tears streaming down his cheeks. “ I shall 
walk at your camel’s side till we have found my 
friend.” 

They were turning away in indignation when 
Ali the Great, whose eyes were full of laughter, 
lifted the flap of the tent and called: 

“ Enter, oh, friends, for here is one who will 
be glad to see you.” 

Afterwards there were no bounds to the 
sheik’s hospitality. Nothing that the tribe 
could afford was too good for the friends of 
his grandson. In spite of the lateness of the 
hour a guest-feast was prepared, at which the 
great wooden trencher, which bore upon its 
rim the name of the tribe, was refilled more than 
once with rice and broth; and of mereesy and 
sweetmeats there was abundance. And when 
every one, even Zeyd, who in spite of his 
wounded head kept his appetite, was satisfied. 


ADVENTURES OF ALI 165 


the telling of tales began; and Ghafil must sing 
his songs and say his rhymes. 

But Ali, who had been allowed to sit up for 
the feast, soon slipped away with Selim to see 
how his camel fared. Even in the midst of 
feasting and tale-telling he must not forget so 
good a friend as Hassan. 

“ Is he not a prince of camels, oh, my Selim? ” 
he asked as they stood at the great beast’s side. 
“ The robbers could never have caught him, 
rode they ever so swiftly.” And to this Selim 
agreed: 

“ Aye, wellah, Hassan is a good camel.” 


GLOSSARY 


Ali (Ah-lee) 

Bedwy 

Beyt 

El-fil 

Ghrazzu 

Ghrul 


Leban 

Mereesy 

Naga 

Radif 

Rafik 

Warak! Warak! 

Wasm 

Well ah 

Weyley 

Weeaho 

Woh-ho 

Woo, wooloo, woo 


An Arabian name. 

Bedouin. 

A dwelling whether house or tent. 
An elephant. 

A foray. 

A fabulous creature described in 
Arabia Deserta. Also figures 
in Arabian Nights. 

Buttermilk. 

Dried milk. 

A cow camel. 

One who rides behind. A spear- 
bearer. 

A traveling companion. 

A cry: “ Back! Back! ” 

A cattle brand. 

Formerly of religious significance, 
but commonly used as “Verily 
Woe is me! 

A cry to lure camels. 

A call to lure camels. 

A camel-call. 




Most of the words in this Glossary are taken from 
“Arabia Deserta ”, by Charles M. Doughty , and used 
by permission of the publisher , Horace Liveright, 
Inc. 


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